The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
ELECTRICITY tariffs will go up by 19 percent with effect from Sunday, power company Zesa announced on Thursday.
In a statement, Zesa subsidiary company- Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution (ZETDC) said the increase was necessitated by movement of macroeconomic fundamentals such as exchange rates and inflation for changes above 10 percent.
“The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has adjusted the electricity tariffs by 19.02 percent. This is in accordance with the Tariff Award of 2 October 2019, which approved the implementation of monthly tariff indexation formula, that takes into account the movement of the macroeconomic fundamentals such as exchange rate and inflation, for changes above 10 percent,” read part of the statement.
According to the notice, the first 50 units of electricity for the month which used to cost $20.50 will now cost $24.50. This follows the increase in the electricity tariffs of the first 50 units from $0.41 (41 cents) per kilowatt-hour kWh to $0.49 (49 cents) per kWh.
The next 150 units which used to cost $136.50 now cost $162.00. This follows the increase in the price of the electricity tariffs from 91 cent per kWh to $1.08 per kWh.
This means that the lifeline of 200 units of electricity which are sold at a lower price now cost $186.50 up from $157.
After 200 units have been consumed, all other units will now go for a punitive $4.61 per kWh compared to $3.87 per kWh before.
The notice stated that the rates are exclusive of the six Rural Electrification Levy and 15 percent Value Added Tax (VAT).
“In terms of Statutory Instrument 168 of 2012, electricity charges for domestic customers are zero rated for VAT and in terms of Statutory Instrument 215 of 2005, fixed charges on commercial and domestic electricity are zero rated for VAT,” read the notice.
Zesa last increased electricity tariffs in October last year
@DNsingo
