Zesa ceo says Kariba water levels are still not adequate to last the year

Zesa chief executive officer, Josh Chifamba told Parliament early this week that water levels at Kariba Dam were still worrisome and that the country would have to continue relying on power imports and supplies from the Dema diesel-powered generators. He said this as he advocated for a tarrif increase saying that the current tariff rates were unsustainable, adding they last had an electricity tariff review in 2012.

But chairperson of the Mines and Energy Portfolio Committee, Daniel Shumba said his committee would not support the proposal because tariff increases would scare away potential investors. The committee said Zesa needed to review its business model, avoid buying expensive electricity and power imports, as the country’s balance of payments was in the negative.

On progress in Kariba electricity generation projects, Chifamba said one of the two units under the Kariba South Extension project would be commissioned by December 2017.  Each of the two units have the capacity to produce 150 megawatts (MW), to complement power generation from Kariba South, which has an installed capacity of 750MW.