HARARE – The Zimbabwe Electricity and Distribution Company (ZETDC) on Sunday announced a 50 percent hike in electricity tariffs.
The increase, effective November 1, is the third in the past one-and-half months, after hikes by similar margins at the end of September and at the beginning of October.
“The Zimbabwe Electricity and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has adjusted electricity tariffs by 50 percent,” ZEDTC said.
“This is in accordance with the tariff award of October 2019, which approved the implementation of monthly tariff indexation formula for changes above 10 percent.”
In terms of the new tariff charges, the three categories of power which the ZETDC deems cheaper for an ordinary household, go up to Z$89 for the first 50kWH from Z$58.83 while 200kWh will cost Z$669 from Z$446 and 300kWh jump to Z$1 721 from Z$1 147.
For anything above 300kWh a month, consumers will fork out Z$15.57 per kWh up from Z$10.38 last month.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Authority (Zera) said last month it was imperative that power is sold at cost reflective tariffs.
“That way, the producer is able to continue to offer the service and improve on the service. If that does not happen, there will be continuous decline in both quantity and quality of service,” said ZERA chief executive Eddington Mazambani.
“The objective of the current adjustments is to ensure that the price of electricity (tariffs) is at least equal to the cost of supplying the service. The current reviews are a result of an approval granted in October 2019 whereby the utility has to adjust the electricity tariff based on the movements in exchange rate and inflation.”
Power availability has largely been stable in the past year, although consumers continue to decry the continued increase in cost. – New Ziana
