Gweru(The Times-New Ziana) The Gweru City Council has stopped repairing street and tower lights in the Central Business District and in residential areas after the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) confiscated the incandescent bulbs that it was fitting.

The Zimbabwe government banned use of incandescent bulbs in May 2017 through Statutory Instrument 21 of 2016 in favour of light emitting diodes (LED) which save energy and are user friendly.

Speaking during the 676th ordinary meeting, ward 15 councilor Trust Chineni said council was in the process of fixing tower lights in the residential areas when ZERA confiscated the bulbs and advised it to adhere to use energy saving bulbs.

“We had the traditional bulbs in stock that we were using to fix the streets lights and tower lights so that the residents may walk safely with lights on and reduce cases of people being mugged but that was not completed after ZERA confiscated the bulbs,” he said.

Ward 8 councilor Catherine Mhondiwa said in her ward some tower lights were repaired and repairs were on going.

She said they hope to repair all tower lights that need to be fixed.

“People from ward 8 can testify that tower lights in their area that were not working were fixed,” she said.

ZERA senior engineer Samuel Zaranyika said on average LED lights give 15 kilowatts hours of energy per year when switched on for eight hours daily, while incandescent bulbs use up to 100 kilowatts hours.

“LED can save up to 40 megawatts,” he said.

Gweru mayor Josiah Makombe said council did not blame ZERA as it was doing its job.

“We should adjust to the new reforms that are required,” he said.

New Ziana