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Prosper Ndlovu in Harare
POWER utility Zesa yesterday revealed it was struggling to recover over $1 billion owed by its domestic and industrial customers, blaming the debt for its inability to maintain power stations and increase electricity generating capacity.
Zesa has introduced pre-paid meters in a bid to curb free usage of power by some of its clients, but it says businesses and strategic institutions that are exempt continue driving up the debt by not paying.
Zimbabwe has been under a load shedding regime for years as Zesa tries to manage a power shortfall which is seen continuing for at least another three years. However, ongoing refurbishment of existing power stations at Kariba and Hwange is expected to add more power to the grid.
Zesa public relations manager Fullard Gwasira told participants who attended a one-day service delivery workshop in Harare organised by the Office of the President and Cabinet that while efforts were underway to improve power production and distribution, the failure to settle bills had become an albatross round their plans to invest in new power stations.
“Zesa is owed over $1 billion amid poor cash flow, which affects our ability to pay for equipment, maintain vehicles, attend to faults and import additional power,” said Gwasira.
“The people who aren’t paying are mainly businesses, essential services and certain strategic entities that we don’t switch off. That’s why the debt is increasing.”
He said domestic consumers were paying for the power they consumed after the adoption of the prepaid meter system, but they owed hundreds of millions in legacy debts.
Gwasira said the country’s sole power company was collecting an average of $60 million per month, adding that the expansion of the company’s vendor payment facility through franchised agencies such as NetOne, Choppies, CBZ, TelOne and Zimpost has increased payment convenience for customers.
He admitted that load shedding was still a major challenge as the company is struggling to produce enough to meet domestic demand.
“The problem is load shedding and the cause is that our plant equipment is old and no longer reliable as it tends to be on constant breakdown. Our existing power stations were not designed to produce power for 13 million people,” he added.
Zimbabwe produces an average of 1,300MW of power from five stations against an estimated national demand of 2,000MW.
The country imports additional electricity from regional producers.
Industry says erratic power supply is stifling production and discouraging foreign investment, seen as key for economic growth.
Gwasira, however, said Zimbabwe was ready to bury the energy crisis in the next three years at the completion of the new power projects underway at the Kariba South Hydro expansion project and the Hwange Unit 7 and 8 expansion.
“We’re still in deficit but we’re working on adding 900MW, which we will complete by 2018,” he said.
The two projects worth about $1,6 billion are being undertaken by a Chinese firm, Sino-hydro and are expected to boost national output to above 2,000MW.
Gwasira said the introduction of pre-paid meters and energy saving bulbs was helping the country conserve significant energy.
He also reported that at the end of this month, Zesa would be making its last payment of the $40 million loan it got from Namibia under the Nampower deal that was used in the rehabilitation of ageing equipment.
Online Reporter