The Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (ZECO) has announced three scheduled electricity interruptions in Unguja this month to allow major maintenance work on the undersea cables that supply the island with power from mainland Tanzania.
In a public notice dated November 13, ZECO said the first interruption would take place on Saturday, November 14, affecting the entire island of Unguja from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Two further interruptions are scheduled for November 15 and November 22, also from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. However, these two outages will be limited to urban areas of Unguja.
ZECO General Manager Haji Mohamed Haji said the maintenance was necessary to address faults in the two main undersea electricity cables and improve the reliability of power supply to Zanzibar.
In his announcement, Haji explained that Zanzibar receives electricity from mainland Tanzania through two submarine cables. One was installed in 1980 and has experienced significant deterioration, while the second was installed in 2015. Both require major maintenance to address existing faults and support a more reliable electricity supply.
The work will involve technical repairs to the cable infrastructure. The electricity supply from mainland Tanzania will need to be switched off during the scheduled maintenance, resulting in the announced interruptions.
The first outage on November 14 will affect all of Unguja, while the two subsequent dates will affect only the island’s urban areas. Residents and businesses in the affected locations have therefore been advised to plan for the temporary interruption.
ZECO apologized for the inconvenience and said the work was necessary to support the continued and reliable provision of electricity to the island.
Since the electricity supplied to Zanzibar comes from mainland Tanzania through the national grid, TANESCO will be responsible for switching off the mainland supply to allow the scheduled work to proceed. ZECO, meanwhile, is responsible for the electricity service on the islands and has communicated the outage schedule to consumers.
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