Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) Limited Asset Mapping Project Coordinator for the Central Region, Brian Mbewe, says the project will help improve faults handling through easy tracking of customers’ locations.
Mbewe said this in an interview while giving an update on the project which seeks to map the low voltage network for ESCOM.
“The project started in 2018 with the mapping of high voltage network. However, this final phase started in August 2022 and is expected to conclude in February this year,” he said.
Mbewe said the project was targeting the whole country where there is electricity network and at the moment only Thyolo, Mulanje, Chiradzulu, Mangochi, Limbe and Chigumula in Blantyre City are yet to be mapped.
“We are essentially capturing coordinates of our assets starting from the transformer through the low voltage power lines up to the d-iron at the customer’s premises. We also verify the customer meter number to synchronise data on the ground with that in our system,” he said.
Mbewe said ESCOM personnel have proper identification cards and are not entering customers premises in order to carry out the exercise.
“Going forward, we will only be requiring electricity meter numbers from customers when registering faults instead of requesting for names, location and phone numbers because now we will know where our customers stay through their meter number,” he said.
Mbewe said this project is in sync with ESCOM’s strategic plans as it seeks to advance customer service delivery.
During the launch of Strategic Integrated Plan 2023/27 last year in Lilongwe ESCOM Chief Executive Officer, Kamkwamba Kumwenda, said ESCOM seeks to put the customer at the centre of everything it does to serve them differently and give them a new experience.
“We will embrace new technologies to improve customer service. In this era, we cannot afford to be serving our customers using archaic ways, we need to incorporate the use of new technological strategies that will help us serve our customers better,” he said.
Kumwenda said provision of quality customer service to all its customers will be the focus of every employee.