Story by Yolanda Moyo
ZESA Holdings says it is on course to post a net profit for the 2025 financial year after improving electricity supply through major infrastructure investments backed by the Mutapa Investment Fund.
The developments emerged during an oversight visit by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to the Zimbabwe Power Company in Hwange on Saturday, where legislators toured generation units and assessed ongoing projects aimed at strengthening the country’s power sector.
ZESA Holdings Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Cletus Nyachowe said improved electricity generation, reduced load shedding and tighter cost controls had strengthened the utility’s financial position.
“We were able to increase the volumes traded in terms of the energy that we sold. We, however, had load shedding for the greater part of the year, which we curtailed as we went towards year-end. We worked very diligently on controlling costs to the extent that at 2025 year-end, we are posting a net profit after finance charges,” he said.
Engineer Nyachowe said ZESA secured a US$210 million facility from Afreximbank, with part of the funding used to settle power import debts while the remainder is financing the procurement of cables, transformers and switchgear.
“This is aimed at improving the customer experience. We know customers are experiencing higher-than-normal outages due to faults during the rainy season, so we are replacing old cables to improve service delivery,” he said.
The Mutapa Investment Fund said more than US$2 billion worth of projects are in the pipeline across ZESA subsidiaries, with recent interventions already contributing to improved electricity availability and reduced load shedding.
Deputy Chief Investment Officer at the Mutapa Investment Fund, Mr Ernest Denhere said funding had enabled ZESA to access the regional day-ahead electricity market while accelerating infrastructure modernisation.
“ZPC is a strategic national asset, and projects at ZESA are north of US$2 billion. We concluded a US$210 million facility for ZETDC from Afreximbank. A lot of that has gone into the prepaid and smart meter initiative, as well as enabling access to the day-ahead market,” he said.
“As citizens may be aware, this is now 138 days without load shedding due to funds injected for ZESA to trade and supplement power generation.”
Mr Denhere added that efforts are underway to modernise ageing generation infrastructure, including upgrading control systems at Hwange Power Station.
“When we toured Units 7 and 8, we saw a very advanced control room, and it is our wish to replicate that for Units 1 to 6,” he said.
Public Accounts Committee Chairperson Honourable Caston Matewu commended the progress made in stabilising electricity supply.
“We are very happy. We toured the units and are also happy to hear that there has not been load shedding, which means whatever has been put in place is functioning. We appreciated the work being done by engineers to ensure Zimbabwe has electricity,” he said.
The investments are expected to strengthen energy security, improve industrial productivity and support Zimbabwe’s broader economic growth targets.
