The CZI president, Mr Joseph Kanyekanye, said there is a need to increase power generation in the country to accelerate industrial recovery and growth.

“There is an urgent need by government to cause existing power generation to be concessioned out somehow, in order to increase generation capacity,” he said.

The Zimbabwe Electricity supply Authority (ZESA) has been on record denying that it holds a monopoly over power generation arguing that the power act allows other players to come in.

However the cost of setting up shop in power generation is prohibitive.

Mr Kanyekanye said power shortages were hugely affecting industrial operations as some companies went for days without power as a result of load shedding.

“There are some cases where industries go without power for three days. Industry needs at least 18 hours of interrupted power supply, without this the country is unlikely to see any improvement in industrial performance,” he said.

The ZESA is generating 1 200 megawatts of electricity against a peak demand of 2 100 megawatts. It imports the remainder from Zambia and Mozambique.

The ZESA has attributed the erratic power supplies to ageing equipment at major plants and low tariffs.

Meanwhile the CZI that would have its congress on 28 and 29 July in the resort town of Victoria Falls would also hold a gala dinner where Business Excellence Awards will be given out.

The confederation has announced that it would also award an Industrial Energy Efficiency award.

In a press statement, the CZI, said the Energy Efficiency Award is premised on the idea of demand side management and the need for environmental conservation.

“While industry requires adequate supply of power, ensuring adequate supply does not only lie with ZESA, but industry plays a role in managing any amount of available power by using it effectively and efficiently through Demand Side Management.

“This will result in better management of this scarce resource. This will also have an impact on the environment,” the organisation said in the statement.

CZI said some of the things considered for this award include existence of company energy management policy, existence of energy management programmes and structure, decrease in energy consumed per unit product, usage of energy efficient devices and equipment, and employee awareness on energy efficiency.