THE Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT)has slammed power utility Zesa’s latest requirement for new consumers to pay for installation of pre-paid meters at their premises after first beneficiaries of the programme got them for free.
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HRT director Precious Shumba in a statement yesterday said Zesa’s initial plan to roll out the programme for free was driven by a populist agenda devoid of economic sense.
“Initially, launched with so much promise, the programme fizzled out with Zesa refusing to admit its failure to clarify various issues, among them debt management, roll-out and the cost of installing the meters on households,” Shumba said.
“Zesa should have been honest from the onset on the actual cost of installing the prepaid meters than resort to populist approaches that have backfired to them, forcing them to put a cost to the installation of prepaid meters.”
He added that Zesa should hold awareness campaigns for the public to be fully informed on the new requirement to avoid a public backlash.
“Going forward, Zesa should raise more awareness on the initiative and deal decisively with their billing system which remains chaotic, especially to those not on prepaid meters. If they have resolved and made it legal to cost the prepaid meters, then Zesa must make every effort to make them readily available to avoid creating a parallel market for the meters, thereby further inconveniencing electricity consumers.”
A Harare resident, Daniel Chigundu, said Zesa should find a way to fund its project instead of forcing people to purchase meters they had not asked for.
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Cosmas Wakatama, a vendor, also of Harare said: “What they want to do is not fair. Zesa and the government are wrong in doing this, they are lost. They should treat all citizens equally.”
