The Director of Electrification and Projects of Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), Joaquim Ou-Chim, confirmed on Tuesday that the Mozambican state and its companies and private companies owe $98.4 million in unpaid energy bills last year alone.

The official was speaking during the visit of the Parliament's Planning and Budget Committee, the Assembly of the Republic, to EDM.

EDM understands that some of the debtor companies have faced severe problems stemming from past financial crises and the covid-19 pandemic of the past two years.

"The most important thing is that we are negotiating with these companies so that they can pay their debts," he added.

On the other hand, EDM itself owes its equipment suppliers, and claims that it has managed to reduce its debt from $400 million in 2019 to $150 million currently.

The company says that its debt has to do with late payment from its clients, but also arises from the vandalizing of transformer stations, theft of electric poles and cables, among others.

Antonio Nhassengo, EDM's Director of Strategy and Business Performance, said that more new customers were connected last year than planned - 102.5 percent of the new connections target was met.

"2021 was a historic year for EDM. For the first time, the company installed300,000 new connections in one year," he said, adding that the national electricity grid coverage rate increased from 35% of the population in 2020 to 39% in 2021.