Electricity Hikes: Impacting on communities
Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has hiked tariffs by 50 percent for the second time in a month, leaving women in a quandary as wages have not kept pace with the country’s skyrocketing inflation.
Women who spoke to Infocus News said they are failing to keep up with price hikes as their salaries are stagnant and the economy continues on a downward spiral.
Talent Mthembo from Emganwini suburb said the cost of living in Zimbabwe is already high and feared that many households will not be able to purchase electricity if prices keep rising.
“Prices of goods and services are constantly on the rise. However, our wages and salaries are not going up. If these price hikes continue, many families will resort to other alternatives such as firewood.”
“The 200 units that we buy do not even last for two weeks for some but the prices keep going up. It will be harder to keep up with the prices except maybe for those that work but it might be steep for them. Fixed meters were preferred because by then people knew that they had to pay a fixed monthly fee now things have become so hard for us especially women who have to perform domestic chores that need electricity,” she said.
Another resident from Mpopoma suburb Thwasile Ncube said the previous increase had already forced them to take hard decisions on how to allocate their power usage.
Ncube said the recent price increase was going to restrict the use of electricity in many households.
“The last time ZETDC increased the price of electricity we were already forced to make tough decisions as to how we were going to use our electricity on a daily basis. We had to do away with cooking with our stoves just to save power.”
“Purchasing firewood and gas is equally expensive for us as such we resort to fetching firewood from the nearest bushes which becomes even dangerous for women,” she said.
In an interview, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe Bulawayo Regional Manager, Comfort Muchekeza said the issue of consumer affordability was supposed to be prioritized before taking such a major decision.
He said the increase was going to affect the spending patterns of consumers negatively as most of their salaries had not increased.
“The increase in electricity charges is going to affect most consumers as they will not be able to purchase such an expensive service. The increase will obviously have an effect on consumer buying power, leaving many unable to purchase power.”
“Electricity is critical in the day-to-day businesses of people. As such, people will resort to using different alternatives such as firewood. This will cause a mushroom of illegal firewood sellers as well as rampant cutting down of trees. This will affect the economy of the country again in the near future,” he said.
According to the tariff schedule released by ZETDC with effect from the 1st of November, “Consumers will pay ZWL$ 547,50 for 51-200 units and those who wish to buy extra will pay ZWL$992,00 for 201-300 units which means those intending to buy 300 units per month will pay ZWL$1 623,00,” read part of the statement.
Zimbabwe has been struggling with power shortages since April 2019 due to low levels in the Zambezi river which has affected the country’s biggest hydro electrical supplier, Kariba South Power Station.