The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), has revealed that the power deal with South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, has finally been consummated. Zimbabwe is currently receiving 400MW from Eskom.
In a statement, ZESA spokesperson, Fullard Gwasira said that load shedding has been downgraded to Stage 1, which essentially reduces power cuts from roughly 18 hours to 8 hours a day. He said:
The electricity supply situation has improved significantly following interventions by both the Government and the line ministry to access power from the region.
I can confirm that we started receiving power from Eskom on Thursday after payment modalities were worked out by both utilities.
This power supply situation gives predictability to load-shedding and largely puts all customers in Stage 1 load-shedding. So there is significant relief but does not eliminate load- shedding.
Gwasira, however, revealed that the country is generating less power than the installed capacity of its power plants.
Kariba Hydro is generating a paltry 277MW down from 1050MW while Hwange experiences intermittent breakdowns as a result of ageing equipment. Added Gwasira:
Our plants are still old and still have a high frequency of break down. Kariba has lost 800MW and Eskom is providing 400MW. There is still a gap of about 400MW which will be managed by load shedding.