Dar es Salaam: The Electricity Corporation of Tanzania, TANESCO, has officially launched the use of drones for the inspection of the means of transporting and distributing electricity as a measure aimed at increasing the efficiency of service delivery and reducing the time to solve the challenges of power outages.
The launch was held on March 17, 2026 at the TANESCO Offices, Ubungo in Dar es Salaam, led by the Executive Director of the organization, Mr. Lazaro Twange.
Speaking during the launch, Mr. Twange has said that TANESCO is in charge of a large electricity infrastructure network in the country that requires close monitoring using modern technologies.
“We have electricity transmission lines that have traveled a length of about 8,500 kilometers, and we have electricity transmission lines that have traveled nearly 200,000 kilometers. These lines have passed through the ground in the forests, on the side of the road and in our areas”, said Mr. Twange.
He has explained that the main responsibility of the organization is to ensure that customers are reduced in the resolution time when electrical challenges arise and to ensure that the service returns at all times.
“Our work to serve customers, one of the things we struggle with the most is to ensure that customers have access to electricity. Today we have started a revolutionary journey of technology to make it easier for us to do our jobs,” he emphasized.
According to Mr. Twange, despite the presence of error detection systems, there was still a challenge to quickly identify the exact location of the problem.
He has noted that drones will help to conduct a quick and thorough inspection before an error occurs.
“Today we are launching this new procedure of using these devices like drones which are equipped with special systems to monitor our electrical infrastructure to detect the state of our roads before any damage occurs”, said Mr. Twange
He added that the move will also reduce the cost and time previously used in routine inspections.
“This thing was taking a long time and costing a lot of money. Our teams were going around with cars, but now we will use a little time to do an inspection before the problem occurs,” he said.
Manager of TANESCO Kibamba District Salma Yahaya said the use of drones will be a solution to the challenges of time and difficulty in reaching some areas during the inspection.
“It is a system that will make it easier for us to provide services to customers quickly. We used to spend a lot of time doing inspections.
We used to go on foot to each pole but with this system we will be able to see problems easily and plan a work plan to solve them so that our customers do not lack electricity”, he said.
The launch of the use of drones marks the continuation of important steps in the evolution of the Organization to use digital means to ensure that citizens get the best electricity service in time and sustainably.
