Becoming tired of candle-lit television every second night, we decided to conduct a brief and, mind you, not very scientific survey, to find out whether load shedding is carried out in a fair and equitable manner. In other words, does everybody have their turn to enjoy two, three and sometimes four hours of darkness every second night? Or is it only some areas that have the switch flicked on them?

We probably shouldn’t be surprised at the results, but here are a selection all the same:

– Dave and I now live in Solwezi. Here in town it goes off at least every third day for at least four hours and often this is in the early evening. We spend many evenings going to bed without a cooked meal.
– Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday between 1800 and 2100 in Garden Township Lusaka. (We sometimes get shed in the mornings on those days as well, from about 0600 till later)
– No problem with power Nkana East, Kitwe
– We’re supposed to have load shedding Tuesdays 18:00 – 21:00 in Kamenza, Chililabombwe. It rarely happens
– Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday from 18:00 hrs to 21:00 hrs Lusaka – Kalingalinga
– I must say that in Mfuwe the situation is a million times better than it used to be. We do have outages for maintenance etc. But we very seldom have that 2 hour shed scenario we used to get. Two years ago it was virtually every night
– By Unza and we never have load shedding
– Load Shedding … Crossroads … It is never regular … sometimes it is once a week sometimes it is 3 – 4 times a week. 1800hrs – 2000hrs (last time it was 2100hrs) and at least once a week during the day. We never know when to expect it – that is what makes it so frustrating!
– I live in Luanshya, we have load shedding 3 to 4 times a week anything from 2 to 4 hours
– Although I stand to be corrected; North-West Chibombo seems to be switched-off on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights (at peak domestic demand time)
So the answer is no, not everyone is paying the price of Zesco’s failure to plan for the growth in Zambia’s power requirements and the growth in our economy. Instead they chose to spend money, which should have been spent on maintenance and rehabilitation of existing power stations and on new investment, on other and possibly frivolous things. One can only imagine what.