The Power Problem

One of the (ahem) highlights of living in Harare, and in the entire of Zimbabwe for that matter, is power cuts. When Grandpa Chris was growing up in Rhodesia he could only remember two power cuts his entire life, and even then they only lasted for a few hours. Now, it is rare to not have a power cut every few days.

There seems to be two different types of power cuts: faults, and load shedding. A fault is when a power line is cut through, or there is some mechanical error, and “ZESA” has to fix it. A few weekends ago, on Friday at noon the power went out because of a fault, and it took them until Sunday to even find where the break was. Then it took them time to fix it- which took until late Monday evening. The other type of power cuts, load shedding, is merely distributing power throughout the city so that some places have it for a day, and others don’t and the next day it is vice versa. This usually is the case for most of the week. The power will go off some time in the morning, and come back on later in the evening when it is dark.

When there isn’t power, we rely on the Lane’s massive generator to run the appliances, keep the lights on etc etc. The thing is, it cant run everything, so we have to shut off the water heater, the fridge, and alternate usage so it doesn’t overload the generator. During the incident a few weeks ago- the generator was on 24/7 for those few days and its noise can be distracting.

The lack of power can be maddening at times. For example, when your cooking dinner, and the oven is baking something, the power goes off. You’re on the computer talking on skype to someone, and the power goes off. Mandy can be making her fudge on the stove, and the power goes off (then ensues a mad dash to the gas stove where the fudge resumes). Then the generator rumbles into life, and the lights come back on- but falter occasionally when the tea kettle goes on. It’s like living in the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland! When the generator is on, it brings its own set of problems: does it have enough fuel, is the electrical load too much, is there enough water cooling it down, has the oil been changed recently, etc etc.

When the power does come back on, it often has massive surges which sometimes damage the appliances. The neighbor across the street had her borehole pump wiped out because of a power surge and was left without water until she bought a new one.

And the even more interesting thing is: an Indian engineering firm has offered to take over ZESA and has predicted that within 13 months it would have the entire country completely modernized and functional. The only draw backs would be- the monthly electric bill would be 20% more. Yet the people in charge refuse to modernize because they wouldn’t be getting their cuts from the profits.

When we were up in Kariba, I asked the caretaker of the home we stayed at whether or not they have power cuts up there. “No boss, we don’t have them here, not like in town. The dam supplies our electricity- so maybe once or twice a month there is no power, but that’s it. That’s why I like it up here!”

Its moments like these that make the State Department so appealing: all diplomats have a generator running 24/7 that is paid for and maintained by the embassy, and have water delivered daily.