ZESCO SLAMMED FOR PROPOSING TO INCREASE ELECTRICITY CONNECTION FEES , AS STAKEHOLDERS HIGHLIGHT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF THIS MOVE

An international human rights organization that advocates for the realization of the right to food and nutrition, FIAN International Zambia has added its voice on the proposal by ZESCO to increase electricity connection fees, calling on the power utility firm to instead reduce the fees to ensure that a substantive population moves away from depending on charcoal.

FIAN Country Coordinator, Vladimir Chilinya says the proposed hike on connection fees if approved will not only disadvantage the low-income households but also impact negatively efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change as most people will continue depending on charcoal thereby contributing to the depletion of the forest. 

Mr Chilinya says such proposals are a hindrance to efforts aimed at addressing key drivers of deforestation in the country.

Statistics indicate that Zambia has an estimated deforestation rate of 250,000 to 300,000 hectares per year with key drivers of the scourge, ranging from the use of wood fuel, agriculture expansion, mining, and timber extraction among others.

The household energy sector in urban Zambia is dominated by charcoal, with over 75 percent of peri-urban and urban households using charcoal as their primary cooking f uel source.Charcoal is accessible, affordable, and the culturally preferred cooking fuel of choice.

Furthermore, the lack of access to electricity and load shedding has been cited as one of the primary drivers of increased production, trade, and demand for charcoal among Zambian households in the recent past.

And Mr Chilinya says it is important that the country implement its development agenda as it is too soon since Zambia participated in the United Nations Conference of the Parties -COP27 meeting in Scotland where commitments were made to combat climate change.

Zesco has proposed to the Energy Regulation Board-ERB an upward adjustment in electricity connection fees from 779 kwacha to 4,600 kwacha and from 2,873 kwacha to 13,300 kwacha for customers in low-density areas and high-density areas respectively, while customers in un-demarcated high-density areas will be paying 7,000 kwacha from 1,709 kwacha.

Commenting on the development, an Environmental Activist, Robert Chimambo has cautioned that the increase in electricity connection fees, as being proposed by the power utility firm ZESCO, has the potential to trigger an increase in the use of charcoal; thereby contributing to acts of deforestation.

Mr Chimambo says before making these proposals, ZESCO should have first looked at the environmental implications of increasing the connection fees in the country, which is already grappling with the impact of climate change.

He has stressed the need for ZESCO not to focus on profit-making, but on providing services to the people to ensure that Zambians do away with the use of charcoal.