By Ziyah News Reporter
Last week, Ziyah News reported that almost 70% of the 5.7 ZiG debt owed to the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) is courtesy of Industry and Commercial users who are prioritised in the electricity hierarchy of needs when it comes to loadsheding.
The publishing of the ZESA debtors invoked debate on social with many questioning why the power utility is not installing prepaid meters for this class of customers. There were varying comments as some argued it was unsustainable for industry to use prepaid meters while others posited that it is the only lasting solution to deal with non-payers who are derailing the power utility’s ability to replace key infrastructure and import more to reduce loadsheding.
It seems ZESA might have had enough of these huge debtors and is moving towards introducing prepaid meter to its “medium to large scale consumers.”
Industry which has been enjoying this special treatment from ZESA albeit ungratefully as reflected by the debt statistics will no doubt frown upon such a move but in hindsight and as posited by some economist, it is one of the way ZESA can move towards being a commercial parastatal that does not need constant rescue from treasury.
Currently, the country is being blighted by load shedding that has mostly been skewed towards domestic users as ZESA prioritises industry and commerce who pay electricity after usage hence some owing millions. The paradox is they need to be prioritised when accessing electricity but they do not priorities paying their dues to ZESA.