Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) says the blackouts which Malawians are experiencing will become more severe during the Easter period.
The electricity supplier has asked Malawians to save power and industries to scale down operations or suspend the operations since ESCOM will not be able to provide power.
According to ESCOM, Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) will shut down Nkula A power station from 11pm on Thursday to 5pm on Tuesday, April 3 for major maintenance works.
The shutdown will take away 62 Megawatts (MW) from the 177 Megawatts that EGENCO is currently managing to produce through its hydropower plants.
ESCOM manages the AGGREKO Emergency Diesel Power Plants in Blantyre and Lilongwe which provides 35MW and 20MW respectively while EGENCO also run a 15MW diesel plant in Lilongwe.
The electricity supplier hopes these plants will help reduce the severity of the blackouts though there will still be a shortfall necessitating increased power cuts.
The demand for electricity in Malawi is about 305MW but ESCOM fails to provide that much due to among other things low water levels on Lake Malawi induced by dry spells and lack of electricity generation infrastructure.
