Load shedding has made an ominous return. Zimbabweans were
spared the brunt of ZESA’s glaringly obvious incompetence over the past years.
Unfortunately, the national power utility has, as a result of both planned and
unplanned maintenance, been forced to implement a series of rolling rotational
cuts, much to the frustration of citizens and the economy at large.
Zesa Holdings has reduced average power output at anchor
power station, Kariba South by 5.3 percent to 445 megawatt after the Zambezi
River Authority (ZRA) cut the water allocation for electricity generation by 5.3
percent from 38 billion cubic metres to 36 billion cubic metres.
What is load shedding?
To understand the daily load shedding schedule and its
ever-present irregularities, one needs to understand why load shedding occurs
in the first place. It’s no secret that ZESA is in the grips of an operational
and financial crisis. The fundamental causes of ZESA’s failures are well
documented and include elements of corruption, mismanagement and disastrous
maintenance programmes.
Whatever the causes, the manifestation remains the same;
ZESA is unable to meet the nation’s power demands. This inability to supply
puts massive strain on the power grid – especially during peak hours, generally
from 5:00 until 20:00. If ZESA, when already at full generational capacity,
does not ration certain suburbs to lighten the load, the power grid could
suffer a catastrophic failure, resulting in a nationwide blackout which could
take days to rectify.
How To Check Your Daily Load Shedding Schedule
ZESA’s load shedding portal provides not so up to date details on the current stage of load shedding, the propensity for further rotational cuts, and an area search for direct consumers. To check your daily load shedding schedule, go onto http://www.zesa.co.zw/ to see the list of areas affected.
