ZESA Holdings — under pressure to bring relief to its consumers — has slashed debts for ordinary consumers and farmers.
Report by Victoria Mtomba
The relief, according to Zesa, would benefit all domestic customers with a debt relief of $160 per household while customers on prepaid meters would have their amortised outstanding debts adjusted.
NewsDay yesterday reported that the power utility had made presentations to the President’s Office seeking to be saved from the pressure to write off all outstanding bills.
In a statement last night, the power utility said extensive consultations were made with farmer’s representatives and other stakeholders before the decision was made that is aimed at stimulating economic recovery.
According to the statement, the collective debt relief for farmers would be $80 million while that for ordinary consumers would be $90 million.
“Customer bills will be proportionally adjusted and this will reflect on the October 2013 bills. Customers on prepaid meters will have their amortised outstanding debt adjusted accordingly. This debt relief is a once-off dispensation,” read part of the statement.
“Zesa will continue to install prepaid meters on all farming properties with capacity of up to 50kVA. Modalities are being put in place to ensure that all farmers, including those with higher capacity of over 50kVA, will be on prepaid meters as soon as the requisite meters are procured.
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“Customers already on prepaid and without debt, will be credited the equivalent amount in units. The benefits of prepaid metering have been taken into account in awarding this write off.”
There have been calls from various quarters, including from Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo who presided over the cancellation of local authority bills owed by individuals for Zesa to go the local authorities’ route on bills.
The power authority has a legacy of debts of close to half a billion that includes those debts taken over from Central African Power Company which used to procure power for the nation.
The power authority has so far installed more than 300 000 prepaid meters countrywide.
