New power tariffs yet to apply in Zanzibar

The newly announced nationwide hikes in electricity tariffs and service line connection charges, in use in mainland Tanzania since last Tuesday, are yet to take effect in the Isles.

The reason given for the delay in implementing the directive, which has the blessings of the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) on request from the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), is that the matter must be subjected to further scrutiny by the government.

``Following the sensitive nature of the directive, the matter has been sent to the Union government authorities for necessary further consideration,`` Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (ZECO) spokesperson Salum Hassan said here yesterday.

He explained that the three topmost ZECO officials had met Tanesco and Ewura officials over the issue �but no consensus was reached``.

``That`s why the matter has now been forwarded to Prime Minister Edward Lowassa and Isles Chief Minister Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, the two government officials co-chairing a committee responsible for resolving it,`` he added. He would not say how long the committee would take to deal with the issue.

Hassan said representatives of the Tanesco, ZECO and Ewura management teams had held a meeting at which Tanesco distanced itself from the decision to raise power tariffs for Zanzibar consumers by 168 per cent, explaining that it had proposed a hike of only 39 per cent.

According to the ZECO official, Ewura admitted that it had not properly understood Tanesco`s recommendations ``but noted that there was no possibility of reversing the decisions reached on new tariffs and charges``.

Hassan said that, until now, no committee has sat to discuss revising the Ewura-sanctioned tariffs in respect of the Isles` side.

But he expressed the view that most people would be ``seriously overburdened if the changes are implemented as passed by Ewura because they earn very low incomes``.

``That is why ZECO is working closely with the government to settle the problem,`` he pointed out.He said that, with the proposed tariffs in force, ZECO would be forced to spend more than 2.1bn/- a month buying 40MW, up from the current 900m/-.

``That would surely shatter the Zanzibar government`s dream of supplying power to the rural population as one way of reducing poverty levels among the people,`` noted Hassan further.

Ewura last month approved 21.7 per cent hike in power tariffs in mainland Tanzania and a much bigger rise in service line connection charges, saying that was meant to help Tanesco remain afloat.

The move has since sparked off a countrywide outcry, with consumers complaining that it would make their lives overly difficult and adversely affect the national economy.

There have also been complaints that Ewura had acted unilaterally, with the pre-implementation public hearings the agency organised involving too few stakeholders to make a difference.

SOURCE: Guardian