adminTHE Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) maintains that despite challenges on the supply side of electricity, the energy tariff is in line with what is prevailing in the region.
Zimbabwe has an average end user tariff of 9.86 US cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh). And according to a regional comparison done by the regulator, Angola and Zambia offer a significantly cheaper electricity tariff rate due to the extent of subsidies in those two countries.
Angola’s average end user tariff currently stands at 5.4c/kWh, while in Malawi it stands at 9c/kWh, and Namibia has an average tariff of 17c/kWh.
Zambia’s average end user tariff is 6c/kWh, while that of Lesotho stands at 9.3c/kWh and that of Swaziland at 10.3c/kWh.
Mozambique’s energy tariff stands at 9c/kWh, and that South Africa (the municipalities) is at 11.7c/kWh, and that of the power utility Eskom is at 8c/kWh.
Zera chief executive officer Engineer Gloria Magombo said “there has not been a significant change in the average tariff over the past four years,” despite a couple of adjustments during that period.
In 2009, the national average tariff (USc/kWh) was 7.53, a figure which remained flat in 2010, but increased to 9.83 in 2011. It remained unchanged again in 2012, but rose marginally to 9.86 in 2013.
Last year, Zera turned down a request by the national power utility Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) to increase tariffs by a five percent margin.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) had applied for a 5 percent upward review of the electricity tariff from the 9.86c/kWh to 10,36c/kWh on the basis that this was in line with its revenue requirement of $890.60 million for supply of 8.594 gigawatt per hour (Gw/h) of electricity.
Engineer Magombo, however, said the regulator will initially allow new (independent power projects) coming on board to charge a higher tariff to cover the cost of expensive borrowings.
“But an issue we’ve found with new projects coming in now is that of lack of access to long-term funding, and access to medium-term funding comes at a higher cost and what that does is that the tariffs of these new projects will be higher than normal,” she said. – BH24.
Online Reporter