Zambia to cut electricity supply to Zimbabwe in next 24hrs

Zambia’s power utility ZESCO Limited is set to cut electricity supply to Zimbabwe in the next 24 hours sending Harare deep into trouble.

This is over the non-payment of US$ 10.7 million debt for the month of February and March.

ZESCO has an arrangement with Zimbabwe through the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) to supply over 100MW per month on a prepayment basis.

However, Zimbabwe has struggled to settle its obligations owing to serious foreign currency shortages.

ZETDC Commercial service director Gift Ndhlovu disclosed this at a virtual engagement meeting with the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.

ZESCO wrote a notice last Friday that they will disconnect supply this Tuesday over non-payment.

“Our ZESCO supply is under threat from non-payment. We might be switched off tomorrow because of shortages in foreign currency.

“On Friday we got a letter that tomorrow we will be switched off by regional suppliers,” said Ndhlovu.

Zimbabwe is at the moment relying on regional power imports from ZESCO, South Africa’s ESKOM, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) and Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique to compliment for its weaker local generation.

Zimbabwe has been struggling to generate enough electricity for itself due to a host of factors including obsolete equipment.

Zwnews