Electricity consumers have been advised by the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) to upgrade their pre-paid meters without fail, before June next year.The upgrade exercise is in conformity with international standards and would be offered free of charge.
In order to upgrade, consumers will be issued with two tokens when juicing up their electricity, one for the upgrade of the system and another for power.
ZETDC commercial manager, Engineer Ralf Katsande, urged consumers to cooperate with the power utility during the process.
“The bulk of the prepaid meters that are in service require a software upgrade so that they can continue to be able to buy tokens and upload them into the system.
“There is an international system for all the prepaid meters around the world and in the region and there is a need for that upgrade by November next year. Come November, if your meter is not upgraded, you will not be able to use it,” said Eng Katsande.
He said the country expects to complete the meter upgrade system by June next year.
“So, we have started that campaign so that when you buy electricity, you get two tokens, which are required to implement that upgrade to the system,” said Eng Katsande.
“If that meter is not upgraded, you may not be able to upload the token in the meter. So, we are carrying out an awareness campaign, which we want to finish by June next year.”
He said the power utility was engaging all customers nationwide so that customers are not inconvenienced by failing to top up their meters.
“We are replacing the meters at our cost so customers will not pay anything. Even the tokens that are used to upgrade the meter are not bought, they are actually free,” said Eng Katsande.
He said ZETDC was moving towards total transfer of all its nearly one million domestic and small businesses to the prepaid system. Most domestic consumers who are yet to be connected to power are those who live in houses that share a single meter box especially in old suburbs such as Makokoba, Mzilikazi and Mabutweni in the case of Bulawayo.
“We are about 95 percent complete. There are few points remaining where one cable fits four homes. There are about 100 000 houses and we have taken delivery of those meters,” said Eng Katsande.
He said from a population of 9 000 farmers, 3 500 have been connected to prepaid meters. The utility company is still waiting for the winter wheat harvest to be finalised before it completes the connections among farmers.
Eng Katsande said moving all the clients to the prepaid electricity system was critical.
“This is our main vehicle of improving collection efficiency because for customers who have been on the old postpaid system, each time they buy credit, a portion of the money goes to retiring the debt,” he said.
“So, the debt will not increase and all the new customers are on the prepaid platform and they prepay for their power and that system will clear the areas.”
Eng Katsande said the power utility was owed over $800 billion and is sometimes forced to cut supplies as a measure to encourage clearance of debts.
“Countrywide, we are owed more than $800 billion. The debt is across customer segments from domestic, farming, mining sector, industry and commercial, local authorities and state entities,” he said.
“We urge all customers to pay so that we are able to pay for services and we have some who are not cooperating and we are resorting to disconnecting them from supplies. That is the last resort.”
Source Zimbabwe Situation
