By Lisa Mangena
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has said load shedding hours have gone back to normal following extended power cuts last week.
ZESA spokesperson Mr Fullard Gwasira, he said the intensified phase two load shedding was only implemented on Friday last week.
“We have since resolved the issue of the phase two load shedding and that means we have gone back to the normal hours of load shedding.
“People should not panic, at the moment we are sticking to the scheduled time table that we have been working with and if something comes up, members of the public will be told,” he said.
Earlier the company had said that generation at Hwange is depressed due to a technical fault therefore load shedding may be above the publicised schedule.
On Friday, the company through its twitter page said vandalism of infrastructure had left more than 30 000 households without power countrywide.
“Up to 30 000 households are without power due to vandalism of about 4 000 transformers, cables and associated materials. ZETDC needs about USD15 million to replace the stolen materials,” said ZETDC.
Due to rising consumption, the power company said members of the public must expect longer hours of load shedding than the ones stated in the published time tables.
ZETDC, however, said if consumption lessened, the power company could cut the load shedding hours.
“The published load shedding schedule is a guide for planning purposes and is not fixed. If supplies improve on a given day, the shedding will be shorter than stipulated and if supply deteriorates, then shedding will be longer than advertised,” said the power utility in a statement. The Chronicle
