By Garikai Chikuvira
The government’s 6 percent levy on electricity consumers is making lives easier for rural communities who have seen their communities, especially clinics and schools light up.
The Rural Electrification Programme (REP) in Mashonaland East province is transforming the lives of communities who had previously gone without access to modern energy services.
The programme is targeting all rural communities including schools, clinics, business centres, Chiefs ’homesteads, farms, and villages.
For the 2025 financial year, a significant allocation of US$4,236m has been set aside to fund these projects, underscoring the government’s commitment to rural development and bridging the energy gap.
According to Edward Kandare, the Provincial Rural Electrification Manager this is a sharp increase from US$3, 015m budgeted for the province in the last financial year.
This investment is expected to have a multiplier effect, enabling various development projects, enhancing learning outcomes, and boosting production in the targeted communities.
The programme’s significance extends beyond providing electricity – it is a catalyst for rural industrialisation, economic growth, and improved access to essential services.
With electricity, schools can now offer science subjects, previously shunned due to lack of resources. Farming activities are now more efficient, with irrigation schemes and power-driven equipment enabling year-round production, Kandare said.
He told Chaminuka that several projects have been completed across all the districts in the province, while others are still under way.
These projects are part of Government’s vision to provide sustainable modern energy services to all rural communities by 2030, he noted.
To achieve this target, the Rural Electricity Agency (REA) is exploiting all energy resources available in Zimbabwe such as solar and biogas energy to complement grid electricity and speed up rural electrification programme.
“The programme has been a pillar to rural industrialisation. There are areas once neglected and left out on development which have now started to rise,” he said, citing that mining activities once run on expensive diesel are now connected to the grid.
Also, farming activities are now driven by electricity and can be run throughout the year where irrigation schemes can be initiated. Beneficiation projects can also be started at points of production.
Kandare added that the major challenges being faced by the Rural Electrification Programme is funding. The programme is funded through a 6 percent levy on electricity consumers.
“This is usually inadequate to cover all the intended projects in any financial year thus slowing down the rate of energy provision to rural communities,” he stated.
The REF is now exploring partnerships with beneficiaries to accelerate progress in their respective areas around the province.
Kandare said to address generation capacity issues and high grid extension costs, the programme is now considering integrating solar mini and micro-grids into rural communities.
“Due to the suppressed generation capacity at our traditional plants and the high costs of extending the grid to far away points of need, the Rural Electrification Programme has highly considered the installation of sola mini and micro grids in the rural communities of Mashonaland East Province,” he explained.
