Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority warns oil firms against raising fuel prices
Harare, Zimbabwe (PANA) - Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has said fuel prices will remain at RTGS$4.89 (96 US cents) and RTGS$4.97 (US$1.02) per litre of diesel and petrol, respectively, rejecting efforts to hike prices from oil firms.
This comes as fuel operators across the country were charging fuel prices at RTGS$7 (US$1.37) and RTGS$8 (US$1.57) per litre of diesel and petrol, respectively, or demanding fuel be paid for in US dollars.
“The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority would like to advise the public and stakeholders that current fuel prices of RTGS$4.89 and RTGS$4.97 for diesel and blend respectively shall continue to prevail,” ZERA acting chief executive officer Eddington Mazambani, said in a statement sent to PANA on Wednesday.
“This position takes into account the funding arrangements of importation of fuel through Letters of Credit (LCs) which were established at the exchange rate of RTGS$4,6125.”
In a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, it was revealed that the Ministry of Energy and Power Development was alerted to some fuel service stations demanding US dollars or hiking prices to as high as RTGS$8 per litre of fuel.
This forced the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Fortune Chasi to hold an urgent meeting with fuel operators warning them to “desist from this illegal and unacceptable” activity.
Chasi warned that such activity would be met with an appropriate response from government.
As such, ZERA personnel have been instructed by Chasi to conduct spot checks at all services to ensure that the prices remain at the stipulated amounts of RTGS$4.89 and RTGS$4.97 per litre of diesel and petrol, respectively.
“Let me talk about the capacity of ZERA to deal with the industry. ZERA has got a very wide mandate in terms of section four of its enabling Act that deals with any issue you can think about importation, transmission, distribution, and issues of competition anything that you can think about in this industry,” Chasi said.
“ZERA needs to take charge to guard its turf jealously in order to ensure the mandate that it has been given by the people of Zimbabwe to superintend over the industry is effectively and adequately carried out. I have made that point very clear to them so there is no doubt about that.”
On May 20, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced the removal of import subsidies that allowed oil firms to import fuel at a US$1:RTGS$1 rate despite the devaluation of the latter.
To that effect, the RBZ directed oil firms to source their foreign currency from the forex interbank market, the official platform where importers can trade to source their monies.
However, given the low trades on the forex interbank market from the lower exchange rates on offer some oil firms fear that they will not be able to source enough foreign currency.
Thus, this has led some oil companies, according to insiders, to take measures into their own hands to only accept foreign currency or significantly raise their prices for fuel.
-0- PANA TZ/AR 29May2019
