Domestic electricity tariffs to go up 30 percent

THE Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved a 30 percent increase in domestic electricity tariffs with effect from February 1 this year. Tariffs rose from 7,53 US cents per kilowatt hour to 9,94 USc.

In a statement yesterday, ZERC spokesperson Mr Peter Mufunda said: "The Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Commission, in exercising its mandate as provided for in the Electricity Act (Chapter 13:19) of 2002 Section 53, has approved electricity tariffs chargeable to consumers with effect from February 1, 2011.

"In the determination of the electricity tariff levels, the Commission noted the gains of the economy in 2010 over the momentum created in 2009, improved production levels, local tariffs compared to regional tariff levels, the state of local electricity supply infrastructure, as well as revenue requirements of the utilities."

The move, Mr Mufunda said, was necessitated by the need to enable the power utility to recover operating costs and establish a path towards cost reflectivity.

"The utilities are expected to, among other things, henceforth, bill according to actual consumption not estimated.

"(Utilities should) introduce smart metering, where necessary, execute load-shedding fairly and according to load-shedding schedules.

"The commission will monitor operations of the utilities with expectation of improvement in service delivery and introduce stiff penalties where inefficiencies are observed as provided by the law," Mr Mufunda said.

The commission urged consumers to pay their bills timeously and to take necessary initiatives to ensure they remain up to date with their bills.

Recently, the Minister of Energy and Power Development Elton Mangoma said the smart metering system would start next month.

He said the prepaid system was meant to ensure that all consumers pay for power.

This, he noted, would result in less power cuts. Consumers countrywide have been complaining of what they say is "uneven power distribution" by Zesa.

It is the public's complaint that areas where Zesa bosses or the well-connected stay are spared from load-shedding while other residential areas are always without electricity.

They say electricity is cut off around 6am and only comes back late at night after they have gone to bed.

The use of estimates in billing was another issue among consumers as they felt they were being short-changed.

Last year, the Competition and Tariffs Commission ordered Zesa to stop using estimations and to distribute power fairly.