Tanzania power utility company Tanesco has said it is losing Tsh500 million ($230,000) daily as the three-week power blackout continues to plunge the nation into darkness.

All the country’s major hydropower sources together produce a total of 516MW at full capacity but the water reservoirs are far below the average levels, producing only 105MW. This has led to electricity deficit of 81 per cent for the first time in two years.

Hydro is the single biggest source of electricity but all hydropower sources are generating at low levels due to drought.

“The biggest challenge that Tanesco is facing is over reliance on hydropower as the main source of electricity, as it is highly unpredictable due to the changing climate and droughts,” said Tanesco managing director Felichesmi Mramba.

The Kidatu and Mtera dams, which are the biggest sources of hydropower, produce 204MW and 80MW, respectively, at full capacity but Mtera has been closed down due to water shortages and Kidatu is producing 27MW.

READ: Tanzania to switch off all hydropower stations

Kihansi, which produces 180MW at full capacity, is now producing 51.5MW, and the new Pangani Falls dam is currently producing 17MW, down from its full capacity of 60MW; while Nyumba-ya-Mungu which produces 8MW at full capacity, is currently producing 5MW. Hale, which usually produces 21MW, is currently producing 4MW.

The current power blackouts have caused a countrywide uproar, with all the presidential candidates promising to overhaul Tanesco if they are successful in this month’s election.

Mr Mramba said the firm was switching to natural gas generators in a bid to cut the deficit. For example, independent power producers Songas and Symbion have switched on their gas turbines, which are together expected to generate about 85MW.

Mr Mramba said that all the sources are producing 555MW against a full capacity of 1,226MW. 

However, Tanesco owed independent power producers (IPPs) and other suppliers Tsh586.5 billion ($270 million) at the end of May, according to the International Monetary Fund report released in June.

“Unless these arrears are cleared, Tanesco’s credibility as a gas-offtaker will be further weakened, with negative implications for investment decisions by the private sector to expand near-shore gas production,” said the IMF.

The companies were not available to comment but it is understood that they had threatened to switch off their generators until Tanesco paid their arrears.

The IMF added that Tanesco’s financial position is expected to improve, as the cost of power generation is projected to fall with the completion of a new gas pipeline and a gas-fuelled power plant.

Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) director for policy and research Hussein Kamote told The EastAfrican that they had asked their members to provide feedback on how the rationing had affected their businesses.

However, Prof Honest Prosper Ngowi, an economist and lecturer at Mzumbe University, said the situation is making manufacturers in other countries such as Kenya more competitive than Tanzania as products produced in the country become more expensive.

“We had hoped that the new natural gas pipeline from southern Tanzania would have resolved the problem once and for all,” Prof Ngowi added.

The issue of power rationing has taken on a political dimension after both CCM presidential candidate, Dr John Magufuli and the opposition coalition Ukawa presidential candidate Edward Lowassa told their supporters that power cuts were affecting productive sector, and promised to find lasting solutions if elected.