The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) on Sunday ordered the suspension until January of power generation at the Kariba power station, which supplies electricity to Zimbabwe's state-owned utility, due to water shortages.

Water storage at the dam, the largest in southern Africa, is at 4.6% of capacity, below the levels needed to carry out power generation operations at the Kariba South Bank power station, explained ZRA, which manages the dam on behalf of Zambia and Zimbabwe, in a letter published by Bloomberg and quoted by Lusa.

The ZRA had earlier this month issued a warning about the sharp decline in storage levels, and did not expect an improvement until the first quarter of 2023, when the streams begin to receive the water accumulated from the months' rains to replenish the Kariba, the Bulawayo portal reported at the time.

Zimbabwe generates 1,050 megawatts of power from the Kariba power station, half of its installed capacity of 2,100 megawatts.

Washington Mareya, acting managing director of the Zimbabwean electricity company, only told Bloomberg that the authorities are working on the issue, according to the Europa Press news agency.