Zesa fails to import power
By Oscar Nkala
Friday, 06 May 2011 11:49
BULAWAYO – Zimbabwean businesses will continue to suffer from power
shortages in the short–term as the country is unable to import power from
the region as the entire southern Africa faces severe shortages, a top
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) official has said.
John Chifamba, the newly appointed Zesa chief executive, told a Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair (ZITF) business conference this week that internal
power generating capacity also remained hamstrung by lack of funds to revive
and maintain existing plants as well as equipment, since Zimbabwe began
experiencing a steady decline in 1992.
“Our own local power supply and generation capacity has actually slumped
over the years. This is a sign that there has not been much investment
taking place in terms of building new power generation capacity. We have
actually lost capacity because we do not have enough funds to maintain the
existing generation plants and equipment,” he said.
Industry executives had earlier attacked Zesa for sabotaging the stuttering
economic revival programme by failing to supply enough power, despite a new
regime of power tariffs.
Sectors that have been mainly affected, include agricultural, manufacturing,
mining and other sub – economic sectors.
Chifamba said local power demand is suppressed at the moment because Zesa
does not have the supply to meet it.
He said while the power utility was able to cover up the supply gap by
importing from its neighbours in the past that was no longer possible as all
countries in the region face power shortages.
“We used to import our way out of the problems by sourcing power from our
neighbours, but that is no longer possible. There is not a single country
with enough power in the region except perhaps, Mozambique, which still has
power supplies contracted to South Africa. We do get opportunistic purchases
now and again but the power is supplied on a non-firm basis, which means
there is no guarantee. We get it as and when it is available and that is not
good for industry,” the Zesa boss said.
He said the power supply fluctuation also gives an idea of how much the
economy has shrunk, drawing a comparison between 1997 when Zesa sold 11
billion units of power to industry and 2011 when it is selling only 8,5
billion units.
“This give you an idea of how much the economy has shrunk. After
dollarisation, our figures show that the manufacturing sector has shrunk
while there has been activity in the commercial sector. That is because the
supply situation remains our major constraint,” said Chifamba.
He said Zesa, which has not commissioned any new power stations since Hwange
in 1998, was working on plans to boost production at Hwange and Kariba power
station, while reviving Bulawayo, Munyati and Harare thermal power stations
to augment supplies.
He added that they are also coming up with various demand-side management
project, which would see the nationwide replacement of incandescent light
bulbs with flourescent lights which save power.
He said 6 million bulbs will be given out freely to consumers, starting in
the main cities of Harare and Bulawayo.