For nearly a week, many parts of Burundi have been without electricity, leaving residents and businesses counting heavy losses. The state-owned power utility, REGIDESO, says the outages are due to connection works on a new high-voltage power line.
In Bujumbura, the country’s economic capital, small business owners are among the hardest hit. “I no longer open my salon because we have no electricity,” said Nduwimana, a hairdresser in the southern suburb of Musaga, found sitting idly outside his shop on Monday.
Welders, who operate in nearly every neighborhood, share the same frustration. “The lack of electricity has put us out of work,” said one welder from Buyenzi, in the city center. “It has also created distrust with our customers,” he added.
The power cuts extend far beyond the capital. In Gitega, in central Burundi, office workers say their jobs have been brought to a standstill. “When the power comes, it lasts less than an hour,” said A.K., a secretary in the city center. “It’s a huge loss for us because we have to go home without getting any work done.”
In the southern province of Burunga, grain mill operators in Nyaburumba, Makamba commune, have also been forced to suspend operations. “We’re not working anymore,” said one young worker. “Customers come and wait with us for the electricity to return, but eventually leave without grinding their maize.”
The crisis is compounded by a nationwide fuel shortage, making it difficult for those with generators to mitigate the impact. According to local sources, limited access to petrol and diesel has worsened the situation. Even the press has been affected — on Monday, the local independent newspaper Iwacu said it could not to publish last week’s edition due to the ongoing blackout.
“These disruptions, entirely beyond our control, hindered the newspaper’s production process. The situation was further worsened by the inability to use our generator due to a lack of available fuel,” the paper said in a post on X.
REGIDESO has attributed the outages to ongoing work connecting the new Rubirizi substation to the 110 kV Gahongore–RN1 transmission line, a process expected to last more than ten days. In a statement posted on X on Sunday, referring to an earlier statement issued on August 1, the utility warned customers in Bujumbura (Muha, Mukaza, and Nthangwa communes), Gitega, Buhumuza, and Burunga provinces to expect disruptions from August 4 to 14.
Some residents argue the company should at least implement power rationing until the works are completed. REGIDESO says it is working to finish the project “as quickly as possible.”
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