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*ZESA Defends Electricity Tariff Hike*

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ZESA Holdings has defended the approval of a 50% increase in the electricity tariff to US$0.1221/kWh from US$0.08/kWh saying it was meant to ensure an uninterrupted supply to miners and industry.

Mining companies say the hike threatens the attainment of the US$12 billion mining industry.

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However, Howard Choga, the managing director of the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), a subsidiary of ZESA, said for the past twenty years, the power utility had been operating below cost. Choga said:

> Electricity supply challenges are sitting on top of the challenges that the miners are facing.

> The mining industry believes that electricity charges are very expensive; they want them to be lowered from the current US$0.1221/kWh to US$0.1026/kWh.

> But the challenge is for us to find what is needed to correct the anomaly.

> What I can tell you is that we are behind in terms of refurbishment and rehabilitation of the network to the tune of about US$2bn.

> This is actually occasioned by the fact that for the past 20 years we have been operating below cost.

> … let’s accept the tariff for us to have a better future in Zimbabwe and achieve our targets.

According to Business Times, this year’s demand was 1850MW against the supply of 1400MW, with imports from Zambia, South Africa, and Mozambique augmenting local supplies. | Business Times

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