Felchemi Mramba, Tanesco Acting Managing Director
Tanzania Electric Supply Company has eased power rationing following improved gas supplies at Songo Songo to generating plants in Dar es Salaam.
Felchemi Mramba the company’s Acting Managing Director told journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday that 85 per cent of the maintenance work on the gas wells in Songosongo, Lindi Region had been completed.
He said that Ubungo power plants were yesterday evening expected to receive 80 percent of the gas usually pumped from the wells for electricity production.
Songas with the capacity to produce 330 megawatts when in full operation was yesterday evening expected put back 264 megawatts in the national grid.
Mramba commended the Pan African Energy, the gas production firm for its efforts in finishing the work earlier than planned.
“It was announced earlier that the maintenance programme was expected to take up to ten days, but 85 percent of the work has been completed within five days…we expect the power situation to return to normal soon,” Mramba told a news conference, adding that the remaining 15 percent will be completed by November 26, this year.
Mramba also clarified that Tanesco was forced to institute power shedding because “we had no information alert that Pan African would carry out the cleaning exercise. It was not an easy task to shift to an alternative source of energy.”
He said water levels in Kidatu dam currently stand at 60.7 cubic metres, not able to generate enough power to avoid rationing.
The Managing Director said Tanesco was still computing the loss incurred during the power rationing.
On November 15 this year, the Tanesco Public Relations Manager, Badra Masoud, said in a press statement that all regions connected to the National Grid would face power shortages for the next ten consecutive days.
Meanwhile the state-owned power utility is seeking a 67.9 percent hike in electricity tariffs to tackle rising power generation costs, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Years of sustained drought at hydro-power stations have forced the company to rely on oil-fired power plants, resulting in substantial cost increases over the years.
Mramba said the financially strapped utility made a loss of 178.45bn/- in 2012, up from a loss of 43.43bn/- a year ago.
"If we don't raise power tariffs, our company will not be able to meet costs of running oil-fired power plants," Mramba told reporters, saying the cost of power generation currently exceeded the firm's total revenues.
"Without bringing TANESCO to financial sustainability by raising power tariffs, the company will not be able to repay its bank loans and this will also affect its ability to secure new ones."
TANESCO currently sells electricity at an average price of 197/81 per unit of power, but wants to raise it to 332/06 per unit.
Mramba said the company was in the final stages of securing a 408bn/- ($253.73 million) syndicated loan from local commercial banks to finance its operations.
He said oil-fired power plants currently accounted for 45 percent of power generation costs, followed by gas-fired power plants at 42 percent and hydropower stations at 13 percent.
One of Tanzania's main priorities is to make its power sector financially sustainable so it can maintain steady economic growth and stem fiscal pressures over the next two years, the International Monetary Fund said on Nov. 6.
Mramba said the utility's total annual revenues rose to 820.44bn/- last year from 545.66bn/- the year before, but the revenue increase had not been able to offset rising power generation costs.
Completion of a 532-km (330-mile) natural gas pipeline from the south east of the country to the commercial capital Dar es Salaam next year was expected to lower power generation costs by allowing the utility to switch to gas-fired plants, he said.
Tanzania, which has made big natural gas discoveries, plans to start power exports to its energy-starved east African neighbours in 2015 after the completion of the gas pipeline.
The pipeline, funded by a USD 1.2 billion Chinese loan, would be completed by December next year, enabling the country to double its power generation capacity to 3,000 megawatts.
The country's peak power demand stands at around 900MW, while its installed capacity is 1,500MW.
