Zimbabwe’s state-run power utility firm owes other regional electricity suppliers $100-million as it struggles to recover debts from local customers, a report said on Sunday.
Ben Rafemoyo, chief executive of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, said low tariffs and failure by customers to settle their bills was stalling recovery prospects.
“As of last month, we were nearing $100-million” in debts, Rafemoyo told the state-run Sunday Mail.
“If we restore capacity, we would like to pay for the current bill and a portion to cover part of our debt so that we continuously chew into it.”
While Zesa bills its customers $38-million per month, it is failing to collect as much, he added.
“Currently, we are recovering between 65 and 70% of our billing average. But we have accumulated bills that we are still dealing with in terms of debt management.”
Much of Zimbabwe endures daily power failures which can last 10 to 15 hours. Some areas can go without electricity for months, as the power utility struggles to maintain its grid.
A decade of economic collapse has left power stations in disrepair, with generators operating at about one-third of their capacity.
Zesa has inked an agreement with counterparts in Botswana and Namibia to revive a thermal power station in Bulawayo city and to fix a thermal plant at Hwange in a bid to ease blackouts. – AFP