08 December 2013, Lusaka – THE Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has commissioned a two-year cost of service study for the entire electricity supply industry to establish the cost of providing power to different categories of consumers.
This will also help to determine economic tariff companies in the electricity sector will be charged.
ERB executive director Langiwe Lungu said the study was expected to provide a migration path towards attaining cost-reflective tariffs.
She said in a statement released by ERB director consumer and public relations Agnes Phiri that the study would develop a 15-year demand forecast and determine the least cost generation, transmission and distribution expansion plans required to meet the projected load forecast.
Ms Lungu, who on Tuesday spoke at a stakeholders’ consultative workshop in Lusaka, said the study would further focus on all industry players unlike the Zesco cost of service study which was conducted in 2007.
“We believe that knowledge of the baseline tariffs and migration towards cost-reflective tariffs will provide impetus for sustainable private and public investment in the electricity supply industry” Ms Lungu said.
The industry countrywide study would take into account electricity companies that were expected to be commissioned in a few years time.
She observed that the industry had since the last cost service study, evolved significantly with development of new independent power producers, off-grids and increasing market appetite for renewable energy technologies.
Ms Lungu said the industry had evolved with a bigger number of players and a diversified energy source.
– Times of Zambia
