ZESA Net Metering: Zimbabweans with solar power encouraged to sell their excess electricity to the national grid

ZESA is calling on Zimbabweans with solar installations to sell their excess electricity to ZESA’s national grid. According to a ZESA spokesperson, George Manyaya, this is now possible as part of its net metering programme.

The value of the energy sent to ZESA by a consumer will be credited to their account, resulting in lower electricity costs for them. It’s like storing your solar electricity at ZESA so you can use it at night or on days when there isn’t enough sun.

ZESA aims to mobilise around 100 MW through this initiative. ZESA is reportedly already adding around 20 MW to its grid from net metering.

The spokesman said in an interview with ZBC:

“We are urging our consumers, especially here in Zimbabwe, to participate in the net metering programme, which will help us bridge the gap between demand and supply. Net metering is a programme where customers who generate solar energy can feed excess energy back into the national grid. What it does is it helps increase supply, but it also helps customers buy energy at a lower level on the tariff, so that the units are credited to the customer and there is some compensation, thereby reducing the customers’ bill.”

Techzim called ZESA customer service to determine what would be needed to begin selling their excess energy to the company and they simply recommended that we check with our local ZESA office.

We asked if any fees or equipment are required, which they confirmed but would not say what the fee is, saying it depends on the configuration.

We were also unable to obtain the prices at which ZESA is purchasing this excess electricity.