Written by Kizito Makoye | From Thomson Reuters Foundation

When Omar Mganga bought his latest stock of pre-paid electricity coupons via his smartphone, the confirmation message came as a shock. On January 1, the country’s state-run power company increased its rates by 40 percent, meaning Mganga got far less energy than expected for his cash.

“This is daylight robbery! How on earth can they increase the tariffs that much within a short period of time? I don’t think I can manage,” complained the 37-year-old barbershop owner.

As increasingly variable rainfall cuts hydropower production, TANESCO, Tanzania’s state-run power utility, has substantially hiked electricity tariffs, a move experts fear could lead to greater deforestation as cash-strapped power users turn to wood and charcoal for cooking.

Newly discovered reserves of natural gas in Tanzania could eventually help meet rising power demand and lower the use of polluting oil-powered generators. But the loss of hydropower capacity threatens to raise the country’s emissions of climate-changing gases, while making life much harder for energy consumers.

Mganga, whose shop sits on Shekilango Road in the sprawling Sinza suburb, is among thousands of electricity customers in Tanzania who are bearing the brunt of higher power tariffs, with the effects spreading into every sector of the economy.

Tanzania’s Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) announced a 40 percent increase in electricity tariffs, and an almost 16 percent increase in the price of cooking gas cylinders, effective January 1, 2014, with the aim of bailing out the firm from huge losses caused by higher operating costs.

Read more at Thomson Reuters Foundation