Harare - The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) severed power supplies to Zimbabwe over an unpaid debt of $5-million (about R36-million), it emerged on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe, which is already experiencing chronic shortages of power, was importing 100 megawatts of electricity from DRC's Snel power company.
The DRC power utility has suspended its power exports to Zimbabwe, an official from Zimbabwe's ZESA power company told the official Herald newspaper.
"ZESA has failed to pay about $5-million to the DRC and the company has since cut off supplies," the source said.
"Despite the imports, we had a (power) deficit and now its worse because of the (DRC) debt," the unidentified source said.
Zimbabwe's towns and cities have been experiencing daily power cuts of up to 14 hours. Last week, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse after a breakdown at the country's main thermal power station.
Scarce supplies of electricity are reportedly being directed to farming districts to irrigate the country's small wheat crop in a bid to stave off imminent food shortages.
It emerged last week that Zimbabwe was only importing 200 megawatts of power from regional suppliers - usually the source of 35 percent of the country's electricity - due to a shortage throughout southern Africa.
Despite the cuts, Zimbabwe's ZESA Holdings has raised its tariffs by more than 50 percent, causing outrage among consumers. - Sapa-DPA
