Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority

Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, (ZESA) officially called ZESA Holdings (Pvt) LTD., is a state-owned company whose task is to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in Zimbabwe. It has organized this task by delegation to its subsidiaries, the energy generating company Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC). Other subsidiaries are investment branch ZESA Enterprises (ZENT) and internet provider PowerTel Communications (Pvt) ltd. ZESA is the only electricity generator and supplier for the public grid. For many years the company has failed to produce enough energy to meet demands. ZESA produced an estimated 8.89 bill kWh in 2007, while demand was estimated to 10.89 kWh. ZESA represents Zimbabwe in the Southern African Power Pool.

Current situation

In general the power generation capacity in Zimbabwe is too small to meet demand from the industry and private householdings. Import of electricity from surrounding countries has eased the situation somewhat, but load shedding is used on a routine basis and some rural areas do not have electricity over long periods. Zimbabwe’s difficult economic situation causes part of the problems, as coal for power stations may at times not be produced in sufficient amounts. On the other hand, the economy is hampered by the unforeseeable energy situation. Recently the revival of the economy has increase demand.