More energy players licensed

This brings to 16 the number of pri­vate players licensed since 2010, which will produce 5 000 megawatts.
Zesa is producing about 1 400 MW.

Zera chief executive officer Engineer Gloria Magombo said they have licensed Essar Africa Holdings (600MW), China Africa Sunlight (Pvt) Ltd (120MW) and Nyangani Renew­able — Duru Minihydro (3.8 MW).
“Essar Africa Holdings’ commission­ing is expected in 2016, China Africa Sunlight (Pvt) Ltd commissioning is in 2014 while Nyangani Renewable Duru Minihydro commissioning is in 2013,” Eng Magombo said.

“The projects are at various stages. For example, some players have fin­ished feasibility studies and others are finalising the environmental impact assessment and also working on the project financing arrangements.

“Zera has established communica­tion channels with all licensees, includ­ing those that were licensed by its pred­ecessor, Zerc (Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Commission).

“As part of the licence conditions, all operational and non-operational licensees are required to submit quar­terly returns on their performance or reports on the progress on the project implementation.”
Zerc licensed 13 independent power producers, of which four small ones located in outlying areas are already operational with a combined capacity of 83MW, generally lighting up the Lowveld and keeping a sawmill run­ning.

Some of the companies that have been licensed but not yet operational include the proposed giant Sengwa Power Station (2 400 MW), Lusulu Power Plant, to the north of Sengwa in Binga (2 000 MW), which is expected to be completed next year.
Eunafric Power Station, with an initial capacity of 120 MW, is in discussions with Harare City Council and the Zim­babwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution

Company on connection to the grid.
The project is expected to reduce the critical shortages in Harare.
Eng Magombo said the supply-demand gap will remain in the country until the big power projects are com­missioned.
In the meantime, she said, there was need for the uptake of various small and mini-hydro projects that require smaller capital outlay that could be commissioned in less than two years.

“Other renewable energy sources like solar PV systems, solar thermal (CSP), biomass and bio gas sources are also being considered as alternative sources to generate electricity to increase capac­ity.

“The other way to reduce the capac­ity deficit in an environment of limited excess capacity for imports from the region is to encourage energy savings through demand side management and energy efficiency initiatives.

“The authority will be engaging Gov­ernment to look into incentives for encouraging imports and local produc­tion or assembling of safe stoves, gas heaters and cylinders and other gadgets that will assist in reducing the use of electricity for heating.
“Zera urges all customers to partici­pate in reducing demand by using the available electricity efficiently,” Eng Magombo said.

Zera, she said, has set operational tar­gets for licensees through license condi­tions and grid codes which the author­ity will continue to monitor as the plants and networks become available to improve electricity availability in Zimbabwe. 
Eng Magombo said her authority was aware that Zesa estimates some bills because the utility could not do actual readings because it was expen­sive.

Eng Magombo said Zesa has an obli­gation to read the meters and correct the bills accordingly within a given period adding that consumers were supposed to read their meters regularly for them to understand their consump­tion patterns.
“Zera is working on reviewing the current operational performance stan­dards set out in the codes which include quality of service.

“ZETDC is required to respond to account queries, investigate meter accu­racy within a stipulated time.
“Zera will soon create customer forums to help educate the consumers of their rights and obligations.
“Any per­son or consumer may seek Zera’s inter­vention if they are dissatis­fied with the handling of their com­plaints by ZETDC or consider the out­come inconclusive,” Eng Magombo said.

She said one of her organisation’s key functions was to arbitrate where there is a dispute between a provider of an elec­tricity service and a consumer or between a utility and a group of con­sumers of electricity.