adminPost Reporter
GOVERNMENT is opposed to electricity tariff hike and wants ZESA to first fully recover its ballooned $100 million debt and enhance its transmission and distribution system to curb energy losses, Vice President Emerson Mnangwagwa has said.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZEDTC) last year applied to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) for an upward review of electricity tariffs in 2016.
Responding to concerns raised by captains of industry during his two day Government visit in Mutare last week, VP Mnangagwa said the proposal was shelved by Cabinet.
VP Mnangagwa said the power utility must focus on an effective debt collection strategy and transmission and distribution network enhancement to minimise power losses.
It is estimated that electricity losses average about 20 percent of the electricity that is transmitted and distributed annually in Zimbabwe. Electricity transmission and distribution losses include losses in transmission between sources of supply and points of distribution and in the distribution to consumers, including pilferage.
The losses are as a result of poor and aging infrastructure.
“It came to Cabinet, but at the same time you hear Zesa is owed over $100m by the public. Zesa should not compensate its failure to recover over $100m in debts by increasing tariffs.
“I also hear that they are losing a lot of power in transmission and distribution. They should first attend to these issues. We differed on this matter, and for now the issue has been set aside by Cabinet,” said VP Mnangagwa.
The tariff hike applications were made amid debilitating power shortages and blackouts in the country largely blamed on the incompetence of authorities that have seen consumers sometimes having to make do without electricity for two days on a stretch, then.
Online Reporter