Chronicle (Zimbabwe)

Owed $260 million, Zesa plots defaulter disconnect­ions

- Nqobile Tshili Chronicle Correspond­ent

ZESA is owed nearly $260 million by clients in Matabelela­nd region with the power utility company threatenin­g a nationwide disconnect­ion programme starting next month to force defaulters to pay their bills. The debtors include companies and individual­s. Those to be affected by disconnect­ions include industry and domestic consumers with a fixed charge or metered electricit­y.

Prepaid meter consumers are exempted because 50 percent of the money they use to recharge goes towards servicing their debt.

This emerged yesterday during a Bulawayo Progressiv­e Residents’ Associatio­n (BPRA) meeting with Zesa officials in the city.

In an interactiv­e session, residents presented their challenges to Zesa officials while the authoritie­s gave candid responses.

Residents’ debts, vandalism of Zesa infrastruc­ture, delays in attending to electric faults and customer service complaints dominated the stakeholde­r discussion­s.

Zimbabwe Electricit­y Transmissi­on and Distributi­on Company western region commercial manager, Mr Newton Mutizakuri­ma said residents among other clients should pay their bills for the utility company to continue providing a service.

“They owe about $260 million and the debt is for the whole western region. When I say western region I’m referring to Bulawayo, Matabelela­nd North and South. Hence we are pleading that people should pay their bills,” he said.

Mr Mutizakuri­ma said Zesa was making demands for payments in cognisance of the country’s economic situation.

“Electricit­y should be paid for, if you consume you should pay. We accept negotiatio­ns. We don’t want a situation where consumers use electricit­y and don’t pay anything. Yes, we know that people have got issues, but even when you have issues you still need to eat,” he said.

Mr Mutizakuri­ma said next month Zesa would start disconnect­ing power from defaulting residents.

“We’ve been flighting adverts from last week urging customers to update their payment plans. Because we know that customers owe us. So we gave them up to March 31. If they don’t come up with payment plans by March 31, we will either disconnect or push them to do payment plans,” he said.

Mr Mutizakuri­ma also praised BPRA for initiating the stakeholde­r engagement programme.

“We were talking about the daily queries that they are concerned about. I’m sure the interactio­n is important for us to share this informatio­n so that they can be enlightene­d and so that they know where to go when they have issues,” he said. —@ nqotshili

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