Power outages are likely to intensify in the country after the Zimbabwe Electricity and Distribution Company (ZETDC) announced that load shedding has increased outside the published schedule due to a huge rise in demand for electricity.
Zimbabwe is experiencing massive power shortages that have seen some residential and industrial areas going for as much as 18 hours without electricity.
The situation is further compounded by dwindling water supplies at Lake Kariba, which have reduced the amount of hydro-electricity that Zimbabwe and Zambia can produce.
The situation is further worsened by the regular constant breakdowns at Hwange Power Station.
However, ZETDC said it would no longer be able to follow its published schedule due to low power generation.
“Load shedding has increased outside the published schedule due to a huge rise in demand in excess of 1800MW against low generation.
“A bigger unit is expected into service during the peak periods and this will provide some relief,” the power utility said in a statement posted on its Twitter account.
A week ago the power utility had announced that it had experienced a major fault at Hwange Power Station.
“Due to a technical fault at Hwange Power Station, local generation is now depressed and load shedding in now being implemented at stage 2. Customers will be advised on restoration progress.
“Load shedding is now being implemented outside the published schedule,” read the statement that was published last month.
Meanwhile, Energy Minister Fortune Chasi said the US$10 million that Zimbabwe paid to Eskom and another ZW$20 million paid to ZESA that was owed by the government departments would help alleviate power problems that the country was facing.
However, The South African Power Utility has indicated that the payment does not mean that the country can import electricity from the neighbouring country as they have their own issues affecting their operations.
