Cahora Bassa collected revenue of 1.8 billion dollars

Maputo, 22 May (AIM) – Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the Cahora Bassa dam, on the Zambezi River in the central Mozambican province of Tete, collected revenue of 115 billion meticais (about 1.8 billion US dollars at the current exchange rate), during the period between 2007 and 2014.

According to HCB chairperson Tomás Matola, who was speaking on Wednesday in Maputo, at the international conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of the foundation of HCB, over the last two years alone the company handed over 37 billion meticais to the Mozambican state.

“Over the last year, we recorded historic net results of just over 14.1 billion meticais, of which 7.4 billion meticais will be handed over in the form of dividends to shareholders, the Mozambican state, the Energy Regulatory Agency, the companies and institutions which became shareholders from the public offering in 2019,” he said.

Matola explained that the company’s contributions, including taxes and fees to the state, amounted to around 15.2 billion meticais in 2024.

Matola told the conference that the severe drought affecting the Zambezi basin, resulting from the El Nino weather phenomenon, has contributed to a reduction in energy generation.

“HCB and the dams upstream, the Kariba dam and the Cafumbe system, where the system begins, have been facing significant challenges. Since the creation of HCB, there has never been such a severe drought. HCB has been doing its best to guarantee minimum production, to meet the needs, even if it is the minimum for its customers”, he said.

As a result of the severe drought, the company envisages a decrease in electricity generation of around 1.3% for this year.

“We have never stopped supplying energy to our customers, the publicly-owned companies from Mozambique, EDM, and from Zimbabwe, ZEZA. We have been managing the dam according to high-tech scientific methods”, he added.

According to the company’s figures, Mozambique is expected to produce 19,100 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity this year, with the vast majority – 15,500 GWh – guaranteed by HCB. Overall, electricity production from hydroelectric sources, including Cahora Bassa, is expected to fall by 4.1% this year, while electricity production from thermal power stations is expected to increase by 17.6%.
(AIM)
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