By IOMMIE CHIWALO
The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has objected to ESCOM’s request to transfer the single buyer licence for electricity to Power Marketing Limited (PML), warning that the move will push tariffs up while failing to fix persistent blackouts.
In a letter to Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dad Chimthambi dated Tuesday, May 29, 2026, CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa said the May 22 notice by MERA calling for licensing of PML was “ill-timed” and “not in the best interest of electricity consumers.”
For starters, the role of the single buyer, which currently rests with ESCOM, is to purchase all electricity from generators and sell it to distributors and consumers. However, stakeholders like CDEDI argue that transferring the role to PML will add an unnecessary administrative layer and increase costs on tariffs.
“Malawians are already frustrated with load shedding, signalling erratic electricity generation due to obsolete infrastructure at ESCOM,” Namiwa wrote.
He says transferring the licence to PML would create a third entity in the electricity supply chain.
The CDEDI Executive Director argues that ESCOM staff have been reduced to fault attendants with no capacity to maintain archaic infrastructure.
“The noble thing therefore was to use the available resources, if any, to improve power availability before such attempts. For argument’s sake, where on earth do you sell something that is not there in the first place?” queried Namiwa, while warning that PML would come with a full structure and operational costs that will be recovered through tariffs.
“The move will see the consumer paying more, since it will result in the creation of a third entity after the Electricity Generation Company and ESCOM, whose finances will come from the very exorbitant electricity tariffs,” Namiwa said.
He described the plan as insensitive to the plight of Malawians and contrary to government austerity measures.
“The new team will have the same structure and the team will swim in the same opulence when the consumer is struggling,” he said.
He further claimed that the creation of PML was about creating jobs for some privileged individuals loyal to the ruling party rather than improving service delivery.
“Therefore, the current available resources should be spent on power generation and improvement of the distribution system,” Namiwa wrote.
MERA issued a public notice on May 22, 2026 calling for applications for licensing of Power Marketing Limited. The notice did not detail the rationale for the transfer.
While ESCOM and MERA had not responded to CDEDI’s letter by press time, this publication saw a stamped copy acknowledging receipt by MERA. However, its CEO Dad Chimthambi was not immediately available for comment.
The single buyer model was introduced to separate generation, transmission and distribution functions in the power sector, and ESCOM has held the licence since EGENCO was unbundled from it in 2017.
Malawi has faced chronic power shortages, with installed capacity of around 554 megawatts against peak demand of over 700 megawatts, resulting in massive load shedding despite recent solar and interconnector projects.
CDEDI said it was writing as a mouthpiece of the voiceless citizenry and in its “governance watchdog role.”
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