Africa Press-Nigeria:
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company(ZETDC), a subsidiary of ZESA, has commissioned a Net Metering project that will enable customers with excess solar energy on their rooftops, small solar power plants and even bigger solar plants to sell to the national grid.
Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) Customer Services Manager, Nobert Matarutse said this during a stakeholder’s interactive meeting which was organised by United Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Trust (UMRRAT) to discuss energy issues in the country.
Under this project, Matarutse said any existing customer producing solar energy on their premises could feed excess power into ZETDC network through a grid tied inventor and a smart meter which measures both power consumed by the customer and power supplied to the grid.
“As ZERA, we believe that renewable energy is the way to go as it presents a multiplicity of benefits,” said Matarutse.
He said customers willing to participate will be required to complete an application form that is obtained from ZETDC offices across the country and website.
“After approval, the customer completes connection form and makes payment for connection fees covering, among other things, the cost of smart meter,” said Matarutse.
ZETDC will also conduct the commissioning test for the installation in the presence of the customer and thereafter the customer becomes a certified participant.
Mataruse said Net Metering was beneficial to the utility and the nation at large through the saving of foreign currency as there will be less power imports.
In this project, ZETDC said, only electrical power units and not money shall be credited into the customer account and this will benefit the customer by keeping their bills low as it reduces the total units billed at the end of the month.
