CEC OWES ZESCO $100M
…Minister demands the money be paid without fail
COPPERBELT Energy Corporation (CEC) is owing Zesco about US$100 million through the Bulk Power Agreement which must be paid without fail, Minister of Energy Mathew Nkhuwa has said.
Mr Nkhuwa said the corporation had not attempted to dismantle the debt for some time now.
He said in an exclusive interview yesterday, despite CEC owing the power utility company huge sums of money it continued to receive power.
The minister said at no time did Zesco threaten to stop supplying power to the private power supplier even though when the debt incurred was huge.
Mr Nkhuwa said the private power supplier had been receiving power from Zesco according to the contract which was signed in the Bulk Power Agreement.
“Konkola Copper Mine owes CEC US$144 million and CEC owes Zesco US$100 million and they were not restricted to receive power. You know that CEC does not produce power but Zesco who are the producers of power despite CEC owing it, it continued to supply, and power was not restricted to CEC.
CEC buys power from power producers then supply to the mining houses and other clients, so what happened is that even when it was receiving power from Zesco it did not pay in some of the transactions,” he said.
Mr Nkhuwa said it was important that the corporation paid off the debt like it was compelling Konkola Copper Mine (KCM) to pay off the debt.
That is a business transaction, Mr Nkhuwa said, and it was prudent that the debt was paid off for the operations of other business partner to be run smoothly.