Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi Limited (ESCOM) is the
state-owned
State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...
power transmission and distribution company in
Malawi. It is entirely in control of transmission and distribution of electric power in the country. ESCOM represents Malawi in the
Southern African Power Pool. It should not be confused with its
South African equivalent
Eskom.
Location
The headquarters of the company are located in ESCOM House, along Haile Selassie Avenue, in the
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
of
Blantyre, the commercial and financial capital of Malawi. The ESCOM House sits directly across the street from ''Shifa Hospital''. The geographical coordinates of the company headquarters are:15°47'16.0"S, 35°00'38.0"E (Latitude:-15.787778; Longitude:35.010556).
Unbundling
When initially created in the 1980s, ESCOM monopolized the functions of (a) generation (b)transmission and (c) distribution of electric power throughout Malawi. In 2015, the
government of Malawi
Politics of Malawi takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Malawi is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the g ...
began planning the unbundling of the company to allow private investors to enter the Malawian market.
Escom is saddled with low tariffs and payment arrears. The company is heavily indebted and is loss-making. It lacks creditworthiness and is unable to attract private investment into the electricity sector, because power-purchase agreements with Escom are not financially viable. It is unable to upgrade infrastructure and increase generation capacity.
In January 2017, Escom was split into two companies.
Electricity Generation Company Malawi Limited
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describe ...
(Egenco) is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and improvement of the power stations owned by the Malawian government. At that time, the power stations had generation capacity of 351 megawatts. Escom retained the role of bulk-purchaser, transmission and distribution to the consumer. Escom is also the sole seller to foreign customers.
Governance
Thomson Mpinganjira serves as the chairman of the ten-person board of directors.
Mr. Kamkwamba Kumwenda is the Chief Executive Officer. He leads a team of nine senior Directors in running the day-to-day affairs of the company.
See also
*
List of power stations in Malawi
References
External links
ESCOM Official website
{{coord, 15, 47, 16, S, 35, 00, 38, E, display=title
Electric power companies of Malawi
Companies established in 1984
1984 establishments in Malawi
Blantyre District