Electricity crisis adds to woes

Zimbabwe's electricity crisis is set to worsen as the country does not have enough foreign currency to pay for power supplied by neighbouring countries. State radio quoted Power and Energy Development Minister Amos Midzi as saying that negotiations were underway to avoid disconnection by suppliers who are owed about US $45 million. Imported electricity supply has become increasingly important to Zimbabwe as its internal generation capacity has shrunk recently. The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) last month began load-shedding (planned power cuts to certain points on the electricity supply grid) at certain times. This is done to prevent demand overloading the supply system. In such a scenario the whole electricity supply system could "collapse", the Harare office of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) told IRIN. SAPP is a regional electricity supply cooperative of which Zimbabwe is a member. Three of Zimbabwe's main electricity generation plants were not operating any more due to a shortage of coal, the SAPP office said. The reduction by Mozambique's Hydro Cahora-Bassa (HCB) of its supply to Zimbabwe, due to non-payment of debt, was worsening the situation. Eskom, the parastatal South African electricity supplier, told IRIN it was still negotiating with Zimbabwe over unpaid bills but would continue its supply. However, how much was owed by ZESA could not be divulged as this was "privileged, client information", said Eskom spokesman Fanie Zulu. He said Eskom had an agreement to supply 150 megawatts of power to Zimbabwe every day. As to Zimbabwe's inability to pay its bill, Zulu said Eskom was "aware of the foreign currency shortage within Zimbabwe". "The approach we have taken is one of trying to find a negotiated settlement between ourselves and Zimbabwe," he added. The SAPP outlined Zimbabwe's internal electricity generation capacity and quantified what it received from neighbours. Zimbabwe receives 150 megawatts from Eskom daily, known as a "firm supply". The country used to receive a further 400 megawatts from Mozambique's HCB daily, now reduced to 250 megawatts, and gets another 110 megawatts from Snel in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), also a firm supply. Within Zimbabwe, the Cariba hydro-electric power station produces 750 megawatts daily, while the Hwange power station produces 820 megawatts a day. However, three coal-fired electricity generation stations - Harare, Bulawayo and Munyati - were not operating at the moment due to an "erratic supply" of coal, the SAPP said. Disconnection of Zimbabwe's electricity supply from its neighbours would be particularly problematic over the winter months of June/July when electricity demand peaked, the SAPP office added. Industry has already complained that increasingly regular power cuts were impacting negatively on production. "Industry cannot operate without electricity, we are really struggling," a senior Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries official told IRIN recently. Meanwhile, Midzi was quoted as saying that efforts were underway to get the private sector to make available some US $200 million - as part of the National Economic Revival Programme involving the government, business and labour - which would be used to procure fuel and electricity.