Suburban
Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter
GREENDALE residents living along Shaneragh Road have requested to be put on a pilot project under which they get guaranteed electricity at a higher tariff after agreeing amongst themselves to take this route to beat the power outages.
The residents mooted the initiative at a time Zimbabwe is facing electricity challenges due to reduced power generation. Power utility Zesa Holdings has been load shedding electricity since last year resulting in most suburbs going without power from early morning 0500 hours to around 2200 hours in the evenings.
Community leader Mr Brian Shenje told Suburban that he approached ZESA’s subsidiary the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) over the long load shedding hours and was advised that the only way to get guaranteed electricity was through paying a higher tariff.
He said he spoke to senior management at ZESA who confirmed that consumers could get guaranteed electricity supplies through paying higher tariffs.
“Now they have said we should put it all in writing and put it through their committees,” said Mr Shenje.
He said if the residents pay a higher tariff, they will not be put on load shedding.
“If we are paying a higher tariff, they had said they would make sure that we don’t get load shedded so that’s how we would manage load shedding,” said Mr Shenje.
He said the majority of residents on Shaneragh Road were supporting the initiative and prepared to pay their electricity tariffs in foreign currency.
“On the Shaneragh Road (residents’) WhatsApp group, we’ve got 41 people. One person is against 41 people in terms of paying a higher ZESA tariff then we’ve got one person against 44 people in terms of paying exclusively in United States dollars.”
Mr Shenje said he arranged an engagement with ZETDC management a few months ago and from that engagement, he spoke to the general manager and asked him if there were ways residents could get guaranteed electricity supplies.
“And he said the matter is about tariffs because as much as we are failing to generate, importation of power is obviously the next best thing.
“And if we are not paying a cost reflective tariff, that creates a problem for them,” he said.
Mr Shenje said the ZETDC boss said he would be willing to engage the residents for a possible pilot project where if he can get 80 percent of residents on a certain transformer to agree to voluntarily pay a realistic tariff then they would be willing to try to ensure that area gets constant power supplies.
“Now what I do know is if you look at a place like Khaya (cement plant formerly Lafarge) they’ve got dedicated lines in which they are supposed to get constant power without load shedding.
“And how that works is on the same basis where they are going to be paid a realistic tariff.
“So in other words, this is something that’s possible, it’s not just an idea.
“This is something that’s been going on for people with dedicated lines.
“Now we’re saying why can we not do it to people without dedicated lines but on residential usage.
“So that’s what we are hoping to do as a pilot so I’ve engaged ZETDC,” he said.
He said residents of Shaneragh Road who are supplied from the same transformer have since applied to be allowed to pay a higher tariff to ensure uninterrupted electricity at their households.
“We’ve got a group which has a lot of the senior people there and it has got a number of residents from different areas. This is not just complaining but to work on things like this. So we’ve requested that we do a pilot project so that the Shaneragh transformer can try to get that service. They have already applied for increased tariffs. And it’s not like the tariff proposed is unfair to people. I think it’s close to what they’ve asked for. So in my view, it’s like you’re directly importing power,” said Mr Shenje.
He said the initiative might be difficult to promote in its initial stages but more people will realise the benefits from such an arrangement.
“They want a realistic tariff and to allow US dollar charges for fuel. It’s always difficult to start off, some people will complain but we’ve got to be realistic. And the more people get on to that, the more there are available funds to subsidise those who can’t afford so that we don’t have a case saying those who have resources have a better situation.”
