Gondwe calls for fair access to Zambia’s electricity transmission networks

The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) must ensure fair and equal access to Zambia’s electricity transmission networks as the country implements its open access framework, Africa GreenCo Managing Director, Wezi Gondwe has said.

Gondwe said the success of the framework would depend on effective market regulation and the ability to build confidence among investors and electricity traders both locally and internationally.

He said this during a panel discussion at the third edition of the Energy Forum for Africa conference, held at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka.

The discussion focused on regional electricity markets and power trading, transmission infrastructure, pricing and private sector investment to promote cross-border electricity trade.

Gondwe said the implementation of open access was taking place against a background in which Zambia had two dominant incumbent transmission network operators, ZESCO and Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC).

He said the current phase required the regulator to move beyond broad principles and establish enforceable rules that would apply equally to all market participants.

“It really all comes back down to how well regulated the market is. And so the stage we are in right now in the implementation of our open access places a very big responsibility on our regulator the ERB and obviously the issue is coming from a background of legacy where we’ve had basically two incumbent transmission network operators in the country that’s ZESCO and CEC,” he said.

Gondwe said effective regulation was essential to attracting private investment and promoting competition, noting that market participants currently had to negotiate bilateral agreements with ZESCO or CEC to access their networks.

He said the arrangements resulted in different technical requirements and tariffs for market participants, while a standardised open access framework would improve transparency and make investments more commercially viable.

“At the moment today each market participant that’s going to transact in the market basically has to go into a bilateral arrangement with either ZESCO or CEC to access their network. They will negotiate a private bilateral set of technical parameters and associated with that will be a tariff,” Gondwe said.

He said investors needed clarity on network-use or wheeling charges, as well as ancillary costs associated with electricity trading.

Gondwe added that services such as balancing would need to be provided by an independent market and system operator to maintain the reliability of the electricity system.

He said Zambia had made progress towards implementing open access and that the introduction of standardised rules would help investors assess the commercial viability of their projects.

“Open access then means we’ve got standard rules for everyone. It also means then that as an investor coming into the market those commercial terms known I can readily assess the viability of my projects,” he said.

Gondwe also urged Zambia to prioritise distribution network reliability as it prepares to implement the framework, saying the quality of electricity supply would be critical to the success of the open market.

He said Africa GreenCo had experienced a preview of open access during the recent energy crisis, when electricity traders became more active in helping mitigate supply shortfalls.

“We’ve had experience as a kind of like a foretaste of what open access would look like when traders became very active during the crisis and we were part and parcel of the response to mitigate that,” he said.

Gondwe said the company’s experience supplying customers in different parts of the country had highlighted disparities in network performance, with some areas experiencing relatively smooth electricity flows while others faced frequent disruptions.

“You may be supplying a customer in a particular location and because of maybe the way the network is configured everything just flows really beautifully, perfectly, no issues. In another part of the network the network trips very very frequently,” he said.

He said Africa GreenCo was working with ZESCO to address reliability challenges in weaker sections of the network.

Gondwe said investment in distribution infrastructure was particularly important because most electricity consumers were connected at that level, making network reliability essential to effective service delivery.

He added that long-term implementation of open access would require clear plans for investment in transmission infrastructure, substations and distribution network upgrades.

Gondwe also highlighted the need for smart metering to support accurate billing and data collection, saying these were essential for suppliers to serve customers efficiently and build trust in the electricity market.

“All those are part and parcel of what it will mean to be an effective open market that ultimately consumers will appreciate and see an improvement in the overall quality of supply,” Gondwe said.

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