arare – Eskom
has put Zimbabwe, which is battling for cash, on notice over a debt accrued for
power supplies but officials in Harare say black-outs will be averted as some
mining companies will pay cash upfront to cover for the money owed.
Eskom supplies
power to some of its neighbours, among them Zimbabwe which gets about 300MW of
electricity under a non-binding agreement.
Zimbabwe also
gets some of its power from Mozambique’s Hydro Cahora Bassa to augment supplies
from Kariba Hydro Power Station and Hwange Thermal Power Station. It has also
emerged that electricity generation from the Mozambican power plant will be
reduced.
Zimbabwean state
media reported on Monday that Eskom has given notice to the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority that it pays its debt or risk being disconnected
by the end of this month. This would plunge Zimbabwe’s business and industry
into black-outs and cripple production, some industry executives said.
“Zesa has not
been able to adhere to this repayment plan. The balance as at end of March 2017
according to the plan should have been R484 721 980, but the actual balance was
R603 176 479, leaving a shortfall of approximately R118 454 499,” Eskom said in
a letter to Zesa chief executive officer, Josh Chifamba.
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However,
according to government officials in Zimbabwe, the Finance Ministry and the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe are working on a number of initiatives to raise the
money and pay Eskom before the end of this month. This includes asking mining
companies to pay in advance while the central bank will also mobilise funds to
pay for the power imports.
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