News / National
Zesa seeks another shock tariff hike
22 Aug 2019 at 08:07hrs | Views
Power utility ZESA has approached the power regulator for a threefold increase in tariffs to ZWL$0.81 per kilowatt four from the current ZWL$0.27 in an effort to reduce load shedding.
The bid for a review comes barely a month after the government increased tariffs to ZWL$0.27 cents per kilowatt hour from ZWL$0.0986 cents, the first time it has done so since 2011.
Meanwhile, South African power utility Eskom says it is not responsible for the power outages being experienced in Zimbabwe, saying it is supplying 400MW to the southern African country as agreed.
After experiencing improved power supply following a power deal with Eskom, Zimbabwe has now been hit by increased load shedding since Friday last week, with Zimbabweans taking to social media to question the Eskom deal.
"Rumor says we haven't honored our@Eskom_SA debt payment plan hence we hav bin cut off & so, ZESA only managed 2 giv us a wik on stage 1 but has gone back to stage 3. The situation has gone-UP to another level, [sic]" Tweeted one user.
User @Benjie Maisiri added: "nothing have improved u are misleading us ..zesa comes bac at 11 pm ..are we really getting e 400Mw from Eskom..or ey sre giving us rtgs warts..or e opposition is stealing our electricity since ey wants stole police and army uniforms." [sic]
Eskom has, however, said it is not behind the increased power cuts.
"Kindly direct your query to ZESA. We have been supplying power as per their requirements up to a maximum of 400MW," said Eskom in response to Fin24.
The Zimbabwean Ministry of Information, meanwhile, responded to critics on social media, saying additional power imports from Mozambique were on the cards.
More to follow....
The bid for a review comes barely a month after the government increased tariffs to ZWL$0.27 cents per kilowatt hour from ZWL$0.0986 cents, the first time it has done so since 2011.
Meanwhile, South African power utility Eskom says it is not responsible for the power outages being experienced in Zimbabwe, saying it is supplying 400MW to the southern African country as agreed.
After experiencing improved power supply following a power deal with Eskom, Zimbabwe has now been hit by increased load shedding since Friday last week, with Zimbabweans taking to social media to question the Eskom deal.
"Rumor says we haven't honored our@Eskom_SA debt payment plan hence we hav bin cut off & so, ZESA only managed 2 giv us a wik on stage 1 but has gone back to stage 3. The situation has gone-UP to another level, [sic]" Tweeted one user.
Eskom has, however, said it is not behind the increased power cuts.
#PostCabinetBrief The power supply situation has significantly improved on account of power imports from ESKOM. Minister @fortunechasi will soon meet his Mozambican counterpart for negotiations relating to additional power imports from HCB of Mozambique. pic.twitter.com/4DOOGdKbBN
— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) August 20, 2019
This is a lie. We are back to the 4am to 10pm power cuts as of this week. This deception is typical of the New Deception. @ZimTreasury seems to have defaulted on e weekly ESKOM Payment. There is no improvement to talk of. Better keep quiet than mislead people @ProfJNMoyo
— Demetria Ziwewera (@DemiZiwewera) August 21, 2019
"Kindly direct your query to ZESA. We have been supplying power as per their requirements up to a maximum of 400MW," said Eskom in response to Fin24.
The Zimbabwean Ministry of Information, meanwhile, responded to critics on social media, saying additional power imports from Mozambique were on the cards.
More to follow....
Source - Business Times
