Government has outlawed the fitting of new electric geysers, but existing geysers can continue to be used.

Owners of electric geysers are encouraged to switch to solar, while new solar geysers can have an electric back-up, although that must be set to operate outside peak demand periods.

The ban was announced by Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi in regulations gazetted last Friday.

Energy experts have noted that heating water in geysers absorbs 40 percent of electricity used by an average home and that Zimbabwe has over 250 000 electric geysers.

The regulations banning the use of new electric water heaters, dubbed the Electricity (Solar Water Heating) Regulations, are contained in Statutory Instrument 235 of 2019.

They were promulgated in consultation with the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) in terms of section 65 (q) of the Electricity Act.

The banning of new electrical geysers is part of Government efforts to reduce demand for electricity and promote the use of renewable sources of energy.

“These regulations are meant to regulate the installation, licensing, operation, repair, maintenance, retrofit and upgrade of solar water heating systems for the production of sanitary hot water to save electricity,” reads section 2 of the regulations.

The regulations shall apply to all property developers, architects, engineers and users of electricity and users of hot water, but will not apply to existing premises with electrical geysers.

Exemptions allowing new electric geysers are possible, but have to be approved by Zera.State media