Industry has rejected ZESA’s proposal to increase electricity tariffs in United States dollars from the current US$0.0981 per kWh to US$0.1221 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to ensure adequate supplies.
Last week, ZESA held a crisis meeting with industry representative bodies including the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) and the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe where the proposal was tabled.
However, the captains of industry stated that they do not have the capacity to pay increased power tariffs as they depend on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s foreign currency system to access forex.
Speaking to Business Times, CZI president Kurai Matsheza the association’s members are struggling with forex shortages, high cost of production and liquidity crunch. He said:
Industry does not have the capacity to pay such a tariff. As you know we have predominantly participated in the forex auction system to access forex hence a US$0.12 tariff is very difficult for the members.
ZNCC president, Mike Kamungeremu, also argued that the majority of their members have no capacity to pay high electricity tariffs. He said:
Most of the members are struggling to meet ZESA’s demands and this will take a knock on most companies.
Only big corporations have agreed to pay such huge amounts.
The situation is very tough for manufacturers.
Zimbabwe has been struggling with power shortages for several years now but the situation became more precarious over the past few weeks due to low generation capacity at ZESA’s ageing power plants.