ESCOM’s Public Relations Officer, Peter Kanjere, acknowledged yesterday, Thursday, that some parts of the district face recurrent power cuts because the current structures are not resilient enough to strong winds and floods.

Kanjere told Zodiak Online, “strong winds and floods damage our network, as ESCOM we are doing all we can to mobilize resources to repair the damaged network and also ensure that we attend to faults in a timely manner.”

He added, “as a long-term solution, ESCOM is working towards having more resilient structures.”

The ESCOM Public Relations Officer, cited replacing the current materials with more resilient poles and towers.

Kanjere seized the opportunity to implore members of the community to plant more trees this rainy season, “because where there are more trees the impact of strong winds on our network is minimal.

“Let me also share safety tips to members of the public during this rainy season to avoid cutting trees that are in contact with our overhead lines because doing so can put their lives at risk.

“They should also avoid coming close to electric poles as wetness is a conductor of electricity,” explained Kanjere.

The power utility body has come under fire from people in Nsanje who are faulting the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) for allegedly subjecting them to frequent power outages whenever it rains.

For example, a business woman, Susan Banda, who runs a restaurant at the boma, claims, “My business is going down. I need power for my business to thrive because some food items require refrigeration.

“I have no choice but to dispose of them because they go bad due to loss of refrigeration. How can businesses grow with such prolonged power outages?”