Power deficit to increase by Dec 2015

Dora Siliya

Energy and Water Development Minister Dora Siliya says Government is spending US$13.1 million per month to import 148 Megawatts of power from Aggreko in Mozambique to mitigate the power deficit the country is facing.

Ms Siliya has also disclosed that ZESCO is at the moment exporting off power to Botswana.

In a ministerial statement on the current status of the power crisis in the country, Ms. Siliya says the country’s power deficit currently stands at 700 Megawatts and will increase to 1000 Megawatts by December 2015.

She explains that the increase in the deficit from 560 Megawatts to 700 Megawatts has resulted in increased hours of load shedding to safeguard the power infrastructure.

Ms. Siliya says due to the need to reduce load shedding further, load shedding has reverted back to an average of 8hours and more from the previously 5 to 6 hours for the domestic users.

She states that load shedding is being undertaken to ensure that generation of power is kept at reduced levels to allow the water in the reservoirs to last until the next rainy season.

The Energy Minister adds that in order to maintain power generation up to the 2017 rainy season, ZESCO needs to generate at lower levels than the 2015 levels.

And Ms. Siliya has dismissed assertions that the power deficit the country is experiencing is because the PF government is exporting power to raise money for the 2016 elections and that substandard machines have been installed at Kariba.