Mozambique: Cyclones cost electricity company €22M in 2022

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Mozambique: Cyclones cost electricity company €22M in 2022

7:00 CAT | 18 Sep 2023

File photo: EDM

The cyclones that affected Mozambique in 2022 cost Eletricidade de Moçambique (EDM) more than $23.8 million (€22 million), according to data from the state-owned electricity company that Lusa saw on Friday.

According to EDM’s final accounts, the Mozambican electricity grid suffered “major damage” in 2022, resulting in the fall of medium and low voltage power pylons, causing the unavailability of power in the system, which “affected around 300,000 customers”.

Adding the damage to infrastructure to the reduction in collections, EDM calculated a loss directly associated with the impacts of the cyclones in 2022 of $23,852,265.

This was due firstly to the effects of storm Ana, which hit the provinces of Nampula, Zambézia, Tete, Niassa, Sofala and Manica in January last year, affecting around 120,000 people and causing 10,814 to be displaced. In addition to the effects on the electricity grid, the storm destroyed 23,400 houses, eight bridges, 13 health centres and 543 classrooms in 249 schools.

This was followed in March by tropical cyclone Gombe, which hit the provinces of Nampula, Zambézia and Sofala, with wind gusts of up to 230 kilometres per hour, affecting 736,015 people and causing 7,086 displaced people, as well as 78,635 houses and eight bridges destroyed, among other serious impacts.

At the end of last year, EDM operated a 22,992-kilometre medium-voltage distribution network and a 6,355-kilometre transmission network with 15,906 pylons.

The company’s profits increased by almost 150% in 2022, compared to the previous year, to 5.22 billion meticais (€75.3 million), according to the report and accounts of the state-owned electricity company previously reported by Lusa.

The number of EDM customers grew by 14% in 2022, compared to the previous year, to 2,936,751, also advancing the “expansion of the network and the intensification of new connections”, which allowed 356,640 more families “to benefit from electricity, exceeding the target set in the business plan by 11.5%”.

According to EDM, of the country’s 416 administrative posts, 318 are connected to the National Electricity Grid, which represents a coverage rate of 76% across the country.

Source: Lusa