Mozambique electricity to spend US$289m by 2013

State-owned power utility Electricidade de Mocambique (EDM) plans to spend US$289m on an electrification programme by 2013, according to its CEO Manuel Cuambe. The programme would cover electrification in 115 districts.

The company wants to improve electricity distribution in the country, where less than two in 10 people have access to the power grid, one of the lowest in Africa. Moreover, connection rates of 14.3 per cent relate to people living in 89 of the country’s 128 districts. EDM has 733,000 customers and plans to link 150,000 new domestic users to the grid. Power consumption is currently 481MW.

EDM posted a loss of US$30m last year despite revenues increasing by 12 per cent to US$17.1m, Mr Cuambe said. Repair costs relating to installations damaged by vandals were partly to blame for the loss. Illegal hookups have been a particular problem for the company. In the city of Beira, 150 families were left without electricity for two weeks following what is understood to be a sabotage act of the transformer supplying the Inhamizua area and representing a loss of US$100,000.