Editorial comment – Let’s have new players in the electricity

The electricity deficit is a regional crisis that the Southern African region is grappling with in order to meet its growing industrial needs and domestic consumption demand. The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority Holdings this week issued a statement to the effect that load shedding would intensify as a result of a lack of funds to import power against declining local generation.
We share the concerns of the public and industry on the increased load shedding that is likely to affect our firms’ productivity and ultimately our economic performance. Of late there has been load shedding of more than six hours in some areas and consumers are wondering how long the proposed shedding would take considering that the load shedding was already too much.
For industrialists, this would necessitate the working out of a shift system that would ensure that employees only report for work when there is electricity, further inconveniencing workers and the firms. It would be very difficult to meet orders on time under such a scenario.
Minister of State Enterprises and Parastatals Godern Moyo said Zesa was failing to fulfill its mandate because of operational constraints with even the power utility’s equipment at its power stations now obsolete. 
“Power imports have been reduced because of the debt we have to our regional suppliers, which has made one of them cut supplies to us. Zesa has a big challenge and all we need is to set up new power generation plants and this can take us not less than four years,” said Minister Moyo, noting the need to identify alternative energy sources.
Since the country is faced with such an untenable situation it is critical that we come up with strategies to ensure survival of our industry through continued and reliable supplies of power.  In the short term, this could be done through engaging our regional suppliers and working on payment plans for the heavy debts. We believe this was done in the past but it is our view that the switching off of power signifies a lack of adherence to the payment plan. It is at this point that industry and the general consumers have to make an undertaking to pay for their power monthly to enable Zesa to pay off our regional suppliers in order to normalise relations and ensure resumption of supplies.
There is also a need to gradually increase our generation capacity at power stations dotted around the country so that our import bill declines.  This could also be done through inviting partners for specific projects such as refurbishment of a particular power station in return for an agreed amount of power.
We are aware that up to five investors indicated their willingness to establish power plants and we hope they have not been blocked by red tape since we need the power plants to feed into the national grid and boost our economy. This option and the one of exploring the use of alternative energy such as methane gas are long term in nature but should be vigorously pursued even as we work on short term measures for now.
And since the Southern African region is facing a power deficit, it would help to learn from our neighbours on how they are tackling the challenge though the cry for private players should also be balanced with the need for affordable power since it is access to power that will make a difference to our economy. The Government should put in place measures to promote the entry of new players in the electricity sector and also provide incentives for research and development into alternative energy sources. If it could be done with ethanol, it certainly can be done with hydro and thermal power that other means could be explored such as the long proposed methane gas in Lupane.