The resolution was made at the CZI annual general meeting held at Bata Club last Thursday.
The initiative comes after the body last year failed to have the request heeded when they sent a delegation to meet Vice President Joice Mujuru on the matter.
A letter in possession of The Zimbabwean, which was put before Mujuru, said industries are charged extraordinary fees by ZESA, a development which has put many of them out of business.
ZESA recently hiked tariffs from $0.06c to $0.099c per unit. Most of the industrial plants require an average total of 108 megawatts per minute, resulting in monthly bills of millions of dollars. Jacob Dube, the Central Region’s CZI leader, confirmed the latest development.
“The realisation made by CZI was that while it is pushing for the reduction of tariffs, there are sectors that are reluctant because they can afford them. These include the mining sector,” said Dube. He also pointed out that such sectors would give the government the impression that the existing tarrifs were fair when in fact they have hurt the manufacturing industries.
He singled out the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Mines, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Small to Medium Enterprises as some of the bodies in the alliance.
Jabulani Chirasha, the ZimAlloys Production Manager, justified the resolution.
“ZESA loses nothing by reducing tariffs because it is a parastatal which should not earn profit. They should just provide a service to the country and not expect profits,” he said.
In a letter dated January 12, 2012, the Confederation of Ferrochrome Industries of Zimbabwe wrote to the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company Managing Director, Jullian Chinembiri, asking on him to address the issue of the high tariffs.
Post published in: Business