adminZAMBIAN President Edgar Lungu approved proposals by power utility Zesco Ltd to freeze prices for consumers and hike tariffs for mining firms on Monday, saying mines were paying lower prices at the expense of the poor.“Zesco is a people’s company and it must work for the people,” Lungu said in a statement.
“We agree with you that there’s no equity in charging domestic consumers more than you’re charging commercial consumers.”
Zesco did not say how much it plans to increase prices by over the next two years in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer.
The tariff freeze for consumers would also be in place for two years.
Lungu’s pledge to fight poverty helped him win a presidential election last month, which was triggered by the death in office of Michael Sata.
A new policy, developed under Sata, to scrap corporate income tax and hike mining royalties has shaken confidence in the industry already grappling with a plunge in the price of copper. – Online
Bongani Moyo
Online Reporter