HARARE - Reluctance on the part of electricity consumers to embrace energy saving bulbs in the country has led to continued load shedding by the countrys power utility, ZESA.ZESA, through its subsidiary Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETCO), has been encouraging consumers to save power through power saving lighting, however, ZESA says people have not heeded the call.
“Consumers have not been using energy savers, forcing the utility to implement load shedding. There are over five million ordinary light bulbs in Zimbabwe. If consumers switched over to energy saver light bulbs about 300MW is saved. This energy would then be available to other consumers, leading to a huge reduction in load shedding,” said ZESA Spokesperson Fullard Gwasira.
The 300MW that is used by ordinary light bulbs is just over half of Hwange Power Station is currently generating. Gwasira said that the 300MW is adequate to meet the needs of four towns such as Mutare, Masvingo, Gweru and Kadoma at the same time without any load shedding.
Ordinary bulbs cost between US$0.50 and a dollar while the energy savers cost US$2.
Post published in: News