Mozambique’s electricity production fell 25% in 2025 after worst rainfall in 43 years

Electricity production in Mozambique fell by 25% in 2025, influenced by a lack of water at the Hidroeléctrica de Cahora-Bassa (HCB), following the “worst rainfall record” in 43 years, according to information from the Government. In a 2025 budget execution report, the Government states that total electricity production in Mozambique reached 14,408,381 megawatt-hours (MWh), representing 76.7% of the annual plan and 25.4% less than in 2024. “The low production was largely due to the weak performance of hydropower plants, which during the period under analysis recorded an execution rate of 72.3% and a decline of 30.7% compared with the same period in 2024,” the report states.

It adds that the country “is the largest producer of hydroelectricity in Southern Africa” and that “almost all its production comes from HCB”, with 2,075 megawatts (MW), “complemented by other small dams under the management” of Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM). In 2025, according to the report, hydropower plants generated 11,207,934 MWh, 30.7% less than in 2024, a performance “largely explained by the effects of the El Niño phenomenon affecting the HCB plant since 2023”. “The shortage of rainfall in the Zambezi basin [where HCB operates] reduced the availability of water in the country’s main reservoirs (Corumana, Mavuzi and Chicamba), culminating in the 2024/25 hydrological year with the worst rainfall record in the last 43 years,” the report adds.

Energy supply is at the centre of a dispute that will lead the Mozal aluminium smelter, the country’s largest industrial operation, to suspend activity on 15 March, affecting around 25,000 direct and indirect jobs. READ:Aluminium traders brace for turmoil as Iran crisis chokes supply Australia’s South32 considers the electricity tariff proposed for the Mozal aluminium smelter in Maputo “totally unsustainable”, thus justifying its closure, although it has not ruled out restarting the country’s largest industrial operation if conditions change. In a recent call with Australian investors, the transcript of which was accessed by Lusa on 6 March, during the presentation of the group’s latest results — the group that leads Mozal and other smelters — chief executive Graham Kerr explained that the “only formal offer” for electricity supply by Eskom was almost US$100 per megawatt-hour (MWh), when “outside China, less than 1%” of smelters have contracts above US$50 per MWh. READ:South32 CEO says it’s too late for an energy deal at Mozal The proposal, he said, would make the operation in Maputo — one of the largest smelters in Africa — “totally unsustainable”, since energy represents “one third of Mozal’s cost structure”.