24 May 2022

Botswana Power Corporation’s (BPC) brand new strategy: Maduo 26 speaks sustainability through efficiency.

Maduo, which is Setswana for results; is a target for the corporation to be result-orientated by  2026.

Briefing the media in Gaborone yesterday, BPC strategy and transformation manager Mr Letshego Moeng said with the strategy, the corporation intended to attain financial sustainability through improving liquidity and growing its revenue base.

Explaining that the corporation had not been doing well for the past three years due to Morupule B not performing as anticipated, Mr Moeng said BPC was looking forward to getting the plant to meet preferred capacity operations.

“We currently have operations and maintenance strategy that is already bearing fruit and we are also doing remedial works which started with Unit 4 and are currently on a trial run. Our view is that once we have it fully functional it will be the mark of getting a sustained or improved power generation going forward,” he said.

Mr Moeng said the programme, expected to run until 2023/24, would have all Morupule B units firing at 150MGW.

Another key strategic focus, he said, was to improve management of BPC assets currently worth around P23 billion.

He pointed out that for the past six years, government,  through the rural electrification programme, had assisted BPC to develop its infrastructure by reinforcing its transmission grid and substations.

“This called for a predictive maintenance programme to be put in place that could assist in preserving these assets and ensuring that return on investment from them was attained,” he said.

Mr Moeng said the third strategic shift was to improve the employee experience by putting people, including customers and communities being served, first

BPC intended to ensure that it had correct resourcing levels and its staff had key skills required to take the corporation to the next level, he said.

On project execution, Mr Moeng said; ‘We need to ensure that when we are executing any project we do within cost, quality and all other aspects of a good project’.

Yet another  strategic focus was to improve operational excellence by ensuring that the corporation continuously improved internal processes and the ability to execute more consistently and reliably.

The expected outcome was the envisaged digital BPC, he said.

To that effect, Mr Moeng said, BPC would be undertaking several key projects including the Smart Grid which would enable it to protect its revenues, including eradicating illegal connections.

He stated that the anticipated visibility of all meters and transformers supplying households or communities would enable BPC to spot faults and address them  quickly.

It would also enable end-users to track their electricity consumption from cellphones or any other gadget, he explained adding that the benefit covered clients enrolled under their solar systems programme. 

That would be achieved through employment of SCADA technologies, said Mr Moeng.

From a customer-focused perspective, the corporation planned to improve its contact Apps to ensure customers had  adequate connection with the BPC service center.

“To ensure that we put in place structures for innovation, we have qualified engineers who we need to create a platform for them to harness their ingenuity so that we can meet targeted developments,” he said.

Also planned were benchmarking exercises in order to improve operational efficiency and ensure BPC remained in the top five across Africa in terms of service excellence, he said.

Mr Moeng said the plan was to achieve environment-friendly renewable energy explaining that government was already  assisting through the Integrated Resource Planning Agenda.

Meanwhile, BPC marketing and communications manager Ms Dineo Seleke said the journey to achieving Maduo 26 began with robust consultations.

The corporation, she said, went as far as engaging with several government departments  as  customers and key stakeholders.

“We also engaged the private sector, the parent ministry, and the board, to the level of management union, staff, and valued customers to make sure that we identify the gaps and tailor-make solutions for all stakeholders,” she said.

Ms Seleke said the corporation took heed of stakeholder inputs towards formulation of the five-year strategy. Ends