Residential areas are likely to continue receiving
uninterrupted power during the extended lockdown period despite the recent
partial re-opening of industries, a senior Government official has said.
President Mnangagwa on May 1, extended the national
lockdown by two more weeks and downgraded it to Level Two, where industries
that usually consume much electricity were permitted to operate between 8am to
3pm.
Most suburbs across the country have been experiencing
constant electricity supplies since the beginning of the Covid-19-induced
national lockdown, when industries were shut.
The Herald established that since the industries were
re-opened on Monday, most residential areas still continued to have steady
electricity supplies.
In an interview on Wednesday, Energy and Power Development
Deputy Minister Magna Mudyiwa assured people that supplies to residential areas
will continue uninterrupted until industry returned to full throttle.
“The availability of excess supply in the region, the
potential to increase power from Kariba and the return of other units from
Hwange will determine the ability of electricity to meet the increase in
demand,” she said.
The steady supply comes after Zesa Holdings recently
approved an automatic hike of 19,02 percent for all tariffs calculated from a
formula that ensures continuation of imports and operation of its stations.
Deputy Minister Mudyiwa said even post-Covid-19, the
situation may still remain steady, depending on the suppliers.
Zesa relies largely on thermal power from Hwange and
imports from South Africa and Mozambique as Kariba South has been generating
well below capacity because of low water flows into Lake Kariba.
In Zesa’s energy mix, Kariba South power is normally the
cheapest.
Power from Hwange is more expensive because it requires
coal, while importing power requires foreign currency. Herald
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