ZESA Rolls Out Plan To End Power Cuts, Power Every Home By 2029

The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) says load shedding will end by December this year.

ZESA Group Chief Executive Officer Cletus Nyachowe told Parliament Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Hwange this weekend that the power utility has put several measures in place to ensure every household has electricity by 2029.

Nyachowe was giving oral evidence as part of the committee’s fact-finding mission into Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) entities that have not been paying dividends.

“We are looking at ending load shedding by the end of this year. We have taken measures, we are intensely focused on effective utilisation of the resources that we have, and on playing on the market,” said Nyachowe.

“So, we used to do inactive trading, but we now have a team that is working 24 hours around the clock, doing load forecasts, looking at what energy is available on the Southern African Power Pool market, and doing bids.

“It is like an auction. So, an active team, which is looking at this 24 hours a day, to make sure that we don’t have load shedding.

“So far, it’s working well, and we trust that it’s something that we’ll continue to do.”

The Zimbabwe Power Company can no longer be viewed as a state-subsidised entity, MIF Deputy Chief Operating Officer Enerst Dendere said.

“We are transforming it into a high-performance, commercially viable asset that services its debt obligations,” Dendere said.

“We facilitated the $210m Afreximbank Facility for ZESA, for which a portion has been dedicated for power trading on the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), and these initiatives have enabled us to have 138 days without load shedding to date.”

He said ZESA’s target is to connect every household to the grid by 2030 and to end power imports by the end of 2027. Zimbabwe is currently importing electricity from Mozambique.

More: NewZimbabwe.com