Blessing Nduku
The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has embarked on a nationwide awareness campaign to educate rural communities on the importance of safe and efficient energy use hence the Driefontein community members benefited from this campaign last week.
The awareness campaign that kicked off in Midlands Province has seen ZERA officials engaging with rural communities through workshops.
Catherine Hasha from the Consumer Service Department said the campaign is designed to address specific energy needs.
“We are here today as a team to address certain energy issues causing power efficiency in the country.
The demand for power in Zimbabwe is more than the production of power in the country which is one of the reasons why we are having more power cuts.”
“Another reason why we are having energy shortages is that we are being irresponsible citizens by just boiling water for no reason, for instance, if someone wants to go to work around 4 am he/she wakes up, lights on his stove, goes back to sleep and then wakes up around 7 lights on that same water.”
“I advise everyone here to join us in this campaign and awareness for us to be responsible citizens and use energy wisely.”
A villager, Mr Anorld Moyo (not real name) expressed gratitude to ZERA for coming to Driefontein and raising awareness on energy.
“Firstly, I would like to thank ZERA for taking their time and coming to this site and teaching us all these things that we were not even sure existed.
We certainly have gained valuable insights into energy safety and efficiency and we are committed as a community to put our newly found knowledge into practice to preserve energy in our country.”
Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) is a body corporate established in terms of the Energy Regulatory Act (Chapter 13:23) of 2011.
It is mandated to regulate the entire energy sector in Zimbabwe in a fair, transparent, efficient and cost-effective manner for the benefit of the consumers and energy suppliers.
ZERA derives its mandate from the Energy Regulatory Authority Act (Chapter 13:23) of 011 read together with the Electricity Act no 4 of 2002 (Chapter 13:19), the Petroleum Act (Chapter 13:22) of 2006 and subsequent amendments.
