Zesa Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. needs to repay the debt to avoid having supplies shut off. Zimbabwe relies on imports because dilapidated plants and a drought-induced hyrdopower shortage have left the country unable to produce enough energy to meet requirements.
The company owes money to South Africa’s state-owned Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and Mozambique’s Electricidade de Mocambique and Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa.
“We are in the process of finalizing a financing arrangement,” Zesa Chief Executive Officer Patrick Chivaura said in an interview in the capital, Harare. “We have made great progress in settling our regional suppliers but we still owe them about $70 million.”
Afreximbank Regional Chief Operating Officer Humphrey Nwugo didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Zesa is honoring an agreement made in August to pay Eskom $4 million a month, Chivaura said. That allowed Zesa to draw as much as 400 megawatts of power from Eskom in terms of a non-binding contract, he said.
“The other plan which we have put into motion is to firm up our imports from the region,” he said. Zesa expects Eskom to respond by the end of January to its request for a binding commitment to supply power, Chivaura said.
Eskom is struggling to keep the lights on in its home market. The state-owned company that provides about 95% of South Africa’s electricity is struggling with more than 450 billion rand ($31 billion) of debt, declining revenue and aging plants.
Zimbabwe’s own ability to generate power has been crippled by lengthy upgrades and repairs at its main Hwange thermal plant and a drought that’s reduced output at its 1,050-megawatt capacity Kariba hydropower facility to just 190 megawatts. Even with imports of power from South Africa and Mozambique, Zesa can only provide electricity for six hours a day.
Unless it rains, Kariba likely won’t be able to generate power beyond March, Chivaura said. Meteorological agencies in southern Africa have warned that a second consecutive drought in that period is a strong possibility.