Mozambiques Cahora Bassa Hydropower Company (HCB) yesterday denied cutting off power to Zimbabwe after the state-owned company had pulled the plug over unpaid bills totalling around $75 million.
Energy and Power Development minister Eliot Mangoma said the Mozambican utility had significantly reduced supplies to Zesa.
It is true that metaphorically they have switched us off and not legally, he told NewsDay yesterday. Instead of giving us the full quota that we could have they have reduced their exports to us to 25 megawatts, which is less than what Harare Power Station can produce.
Zimbabwe imports 100 megawatts of electricity from Mozambique to meet the massive power shortfall. The country produces 1 320 megawatts of power against domestic demand of 2 100 megawatts, a situation that forces it to heavily rely on imports from the region.
But HCB, which supplies nearly a fifth of the power it produces to Zimbabwe, said it was not true that it had cut off Zesa.
We would like to inform you that we have not cut electricity to Zimbabwe. That information is misinformed, Rosaque Guale, a board member of the state-owned HCB, told AFP.
