All the four thermal power stations operated by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) have broken down leaving only the Kariba Hydro power stations supporting the national electricity grid amid growing fears that Zimbabwe might one day plunge into terrifying darkness, a document in possession of Harare Tribune confirms the decaying state of affairs at the state owned company.
ZESA runs Hwange thermal power stations (major) and three small thermals of Bulawayo, Munyatiand Harare that each produce about 30MW of power on normal days. Hwange the hub of electricity power generation in the country produces 750MW on normal days.
At the time of going to print all the thermal power stations were not producing power at all with one insider at the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) a subsidiary of ZESA that manages the assets telling the Harare Tribune that the stations have been crippled by antiquated equipment, lack of coal and serious lack of spare parts.
As at today, only Kariba is generating 740MW of electricity and all the other thermals are at zero due to aging equipment, lack of coal, diesel and other factors," he said.
ZESA imports electricity from Snel of DRC and Hydro Cahorra Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique. Eskom of South Africa has since stopped supplying power to ZESA owing to its growing domestic demand.
Eskom is supplementing its demand with solar systems and even during its time of trade with ZESA, it used to supply only about 3% of Zimbabwe requirements between 2000 – 3.  Â
The revelations have come at a time most consumers in towns across the country are chanting praise songs to the electricity utility for reducing load shedding.
The ZPC source alluded the improved power supplies to domestic consumers to the lack of activity in industry as most companies failed to open their doors for business due to economic hardships that have been exacerbated by the archaic policies of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
According to a document in possession of this publication, ZESA has also lodged an application to the RBZ to enable it to bill its customers in foreign currency but well-placed sources are predicting that the central bank is not going to give the company the nod to do so due to Gono's perennial hatred of ZESA since the time of Sydney Gata, Mugabe's son-in-law.
When ZESA stopped accepting cheques from customers last year, Gono railroaded in and ordered ZESA not to shift its stance by an inch and continue accepting cheques.
ZESA has since started advising its customers to stop bulk payments of their accounts due to the hyperinflationary environment.
A senior official at the RBZ's financial intelligence department has confirmed that the application of ZESA is still under consideration.
Meanwhile the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has queried the rationale of Gono refusing to grand ZESA a license to bill its clients in foreign currency yet he allows even mere bakeries of bread and kombis to deal in foreign currency under the Foreign Currency Licensed Warehouses and Retail Shops (FOLIWARS) scheme.
Gono is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, said a source at CZI.
The managing director of the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZEDC) Mr Enerst Muchayi has confirmed to the Harare Tribune that they have applied to RBZ to be licensed to deal in foreign currency but are still waiting for a response from the central bank