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The Executive Director for the Portfolio of Operations of the electricity distribution company in Mozambique (EDM) challenged the business sector to better analyse what the problems of the manufacturing sector are. “I usually say that, for the transformation of industry, two thirds does not depend on Mozambique Electricity,” was his comment.
Speaking during a seminar addressing challenges in the development of the manufacturing sector and measures for its leverage, engineer Carlos Yum, the Administration Board member who is leading the ongoing restructuring at Mozambique Electricity (EDM), denied a claim by the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) that adopting a seasonal tariff for the manufacturing industry could lower production costs by 46.5 percent.
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“EDM is an operator, and 90 percent of the electricity we get is from third parties. In the work we carry out with the government we look very closely at electricity industry analytics and the policies and strategies surrounding it. When I look at the report [the CTA study], I see that you need to get closer to the industry, in this case of Mozambique Electricity [EDM], to understand what are the real challenges,” Yum noted Yum. “Many of the issues (presented by CTA) are of a structural level, and not only dependent on Mozambique Electricity.”
The EDM Operations Director said that the CTA study confused “retail with investment”. “A critical issue is the [power] tariff, but it must be understood what the tariff regime addresses – its structure and adjustment formulae. And, before talking about a seasonal tariff, we have to look at the market structure we have in Mozambique, which has very small industrial component. Our biggest critics and customers aren’t even industry. There may be one or two at the peak, but the base is not industry,” he explained.
“When we talk about industry, I recommend looking at what kind of industry we are talking about. Because the weight of electricity for an industry like Mozal, which is solid electricity, is completely different for tourism, agriculture, or even steel, and so on,” Yum continued. “What the study contains is more a report of suffering than an analysis of structuring. I usually say that, for the transformation of industry, two thirds does not depend on Mozambique Electricity. They depend on the business model.”
By Adérito Caldeira
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