The establishment of the Zimbabwe Electricity Contractors and Suppliers Association (ZECSA) has been commended by the energy industry as a gesture that will help improve and implement standards in the energy and power sector.
Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking at ZECSA’s inaugural Annual General Meeting and Stakeholders Workshop on Friday, the Association’s President Mrs Charity Chikuni said the establishment of ZECSA was to respond to a call by the public to come up with a solution that works in coming up with an energy and power industry that has world-class standards.
“The formation of ZECSA is aimed at solving the challenges that sustain the economy of Zimbabwe. Every economic activity depends on power and it is our mandate to protect and promote behaviour that endures the availability of power at all times.
“To our credit, we are the ones who have bestowed our labour to infrastructure development that facilitate power generation and power distribution. As an association we responded to the call of the public by creating ZECSA,” Chikuni said.
Speaking at the same event, Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) Engineer Samuel Zaranyika commended the formation of ZECSA saying the convergence of contractors helped establish world-class standards in the power and energy industries. He said this will help curb accidents, theft and vandalism.
Zaranyika said the formation of the organization will help ZERA in registering all contractors in the country.
He alluded that as many opportunities are being built in the energy industry, the establishment of ZECSA will help the government and ZERA’s vision to see electric uptake going to 100 per cent from the current plus or minus 60 per cent.
“Contractors should adhere to standards, to minimize accidents, disasters and theft in the power industry.
“Contractors should be well conversant with standards. Let us uphold all the standards, we are in the process to call on Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) to post their standards to ensure that contractors are conversant to standards. This year alone the country recorded more than 60 accidents. A minimum of 3 people per month are dying due to accidents and most of these accidents can be avoided.
“We are going to be registering each and every contractor in the country.
“There are many opportunities for contractors, we have what is called energy transition. The rise of new energy that can be connected to the national grid, for example, solar projects among others. These projects will require contractors and standards should be our motto.
“Due to the popularity and rise of Electric Vehicles (EVs) as ZERA, we actually bought an EV in 2019 to test it and feel the future of the energy industry. ZERA has put 3 EV charging units across the country and we have realized that charging stations need to be installed throughout the country, that’s an opportunity for all contractors.
“We expect Zimbabwe to have an uptake of electricity of up to 100 per cent, these can be achieved when ZECSA adheres to set standards. We would want to adhere to standards as much as possible,” Eng Zaranyika said.
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)‘s Webster Micho was delighted with the establishment of ZECSA and said it has a long way to build and mould electric Suppliers and contractors of integrity.
“As we advocate for sustainable business practices which is the theme of this event, the founding of ZECSA makes us happy to address the concerns of the contractors and suppliers as there will be increased interaction. The founding of this association will improve coordination. ZESA requires contractors and suppliers of integrity. With the continued interaction with ZESA, we would want to come up with a policy with world-class electricity installation standards,” Webster said.
Speaking at the AGM ZECSA Vice President Ms Pheneous Munemo said there was a need for ZECSA to adhere to standards to create a sustainable industry and reduce accidents and theft.
“There is a need for us to follow standards, we need as ZECSA to be able to familiarise with the standards that we currently have and help to improve them,” she said.