Savious Madanhire
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has shed light on the current load-shedding, revealing the underlying causes and measures being taken to mitigate it as a country.
Speaking at a Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) workshop held at Driefontein Primary School in Mvuma last week, ZETDC National Marketing Executive, Lot Maziriri painted a picture of the birth and causes of load-shedding which is still a concern across the whole nation at large.
“At this point, I believe the electricity supply is now better but the most common question which is asked by people is, why we don’t alert people before switching off the power supply.
“The simple reason why we don’t communicate in the manner that customers expect is the criticality of the power supply at that juncture but if it is all well we can communicate but some days we can’t because it requires immediate action or else we face what is called total systems collapse whereby all the machine will shut down turning the whole nation into a dark city.”
“This is a most undesirable situation we would want as a utility and as a country.
However, that situation forces us to introduce the monster load shedding, to save the situation.
When it comes to electricity there is no deferred consumption thus you see that it usually goes during the peak hours when everyone is using electricity therefore due to the challenges we have, the electricity produced and the consumption rate are not in equilibrium, that’s why electricity usually comes back during the night due to decreased consumption,” he added.
Furthermore, Eng Maziriri went on to share the structure of sources the utility relies on for power and their tragedy of chasing a moving shadow.
“Our main sources are Hwange and Kariba but the dam levels are very low, due to the rains we hope it will improve, many might say there is a lot of water at Kariba after visiting for vacations, ZESA is lying however water for recreation is available but for power generation,and it is very low.”
“Hwange due to aged infrastructure we can no longer produce the required power but due to the leadership of His Excellency the President Dr E.D Mnangagwa, three years back we managed to introduce Hwange 7&8 which is functioning magnificently producing 450 megawatts (MW) hence if Kariba could give us the same it would be normal but rather it is lower at about 200MW thus load shedding.”
“Additionally, some say ZESA has the luxury to export electricity, but rather it’s a debt we are paying for the help we received which is still functional now hence upon agreement we pay back using electricity.
We also get 50 MW from EDM Mozambique and IPPZ gives us 40 MW which is very good,” he said.
However, Eng Maziriri said ZETDC’s current generation capacity stands at around 1,170 MW against a peak demand of 1,500 MW hence the shortfall result in load shedding.
“As of today our megawatts are at 1170 MW against a possible expectation or demand of 1500MW hence the shortfall only happens mainly during peak hours for example from 5 am to 9 am everyone needs electricity hence giving pressure at ZESA, and the pressure reawakens at 5 pm to 9 pm, rarely do we have load shedding at 12 midnight hence if it happens it is usually due to theft, faulty and vandalism.
ZETDC clarified that load shedding is not a punishment but rather the only way to save the current situation of electricity shortage in the country.
In conclusion, Eng Maziriri highlighted some of the pressing challenges faced by the utility company.
“We have challenges such as aged infrastructure but the most serious ones are theft and vandalism, I’m happy that the Chiefs are here, you can help us preach this issue.
Yes, we do campaigns but this problem on our own is becoming difficult hence we should all be on the lookout and take collective owner of electrical materials together so we can overcome this problem.”
ZETDC has plans to introduce smart meters that one can operate from afar for example opening gates and appliances, but the utility company stated that these will be expensive only those who can afford them can purchase them at any time.
