BPC revenue takes a knock

Covid- 19 causes a decline in revenue for the corporation

Botswana Power Corporation ( BPC) has recorded depressed sales revenues for the year 2020/ 21, as consumption in the commercial and mining sectors went down due to lockdowns and business closures.

The utility company recorded a decline of P88.8 million in power sales during the financial year 2020/ 21 as economic activity declined while some businesses closed shop because of the COVID- 19 pandemic.

According to BPC Chief Finance Officer ( CFO), Oaitse Ramasedi income from the mining sector, traditionally one of the biggest consumers of power, reduced by five percent to P633.8 million. The mining sector’s consumption has been gradually decreasing over the years due to the closure of a number of mines, notably BCL in 2016. On the other hand, revenue from the non- mining sector was down P54 million to P3.39 billion due to below budget sales by commercial customers. Ramasedi revealed the plunge in BPC sales at a public hearing hosted by the Botswana Regulatory Authority ( BERA) to consider BPC’s application for a tariff increase of five percent for the year 2022/ 23.

BERA Chief Operations Officer ( COO), Duncan Morotsi said the essence of the public enquiry is to allow stakeholders and consumers to participate, interrogate and understand why there is a need for a tariff increase.

“And then determine whether the BPC application is justifiable or not. This also allows BERA to be transparent and bring the consumer on board during the decision making process,” he said. BPC has consistently blamed its recurring precarious financial position on non- cost reflective tariffs, low availability of Morupule B power station and the increasing cost of imported power. Meanwhile, government has over the years, subsidised BPC to cushion it against the impact of non- cost reflective tariffs, and the Corporation claims that the subsidy has significantly decreased over the last five years, leading to under- recovery.