Electricity Demand and Load shedding: Impact on Zambian Business

The ability of a country to meet its wider development objectives is largely affected by access to reliable energy. In Zambia, demand for energy, in particular electricity, has been rising due to economic activity in the country, particularly in the Mining, Agriculture, Manufacturing sectors and in all other businesses in general. As a result, load shedding and unannounced power-cuts have characterized Zambiäs economy. Zambia`s business sector, both formal and informal, has not been spared and has been crippled and hit hard by electricity load shedding which is seen as a solution to the inability of the power utility to supply electricity to meet demand. Businesses and entrepreneurs are relied upon as the future engines of growth for the economy. It was therefore critical to understand the extent to which load shedding had affected this sector and how this could have affected the country`s economic development. The general objective of the study was to investigate the impact of electricity demand and load shedding on Zambian businesses and entrepreneurship.