A US$5 million Chinese billing platform introduced by state power utility Zesa Holdings (Zesa) on January 6 was bogged down by teething problems, locking out new customers and costing the company revenue.
This week, Zesa’s subsidiary, the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), told the Zimbabwe Independent the losses were “minimal”.
This newspaper understands the new platform, known as the ZETDC Utility Management System (Zums), ran into difficulties soon after going live.
Affected customers said it struggled to register newly-installed smart meters during the transition from the previous billing platform.
Zums was introduced as part of efforts to modernise Zesa’s billing operations, improve efficiency and curb electricity theft associated with the older system.
According to confidential documents seen by the Independent, customers who installed new smart meters from December last year struggled to register on the new platform and were unable to purchase electricity tokens.
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Even with funds available to buy power, affected households were forced to turn to alternative energy sources such as firewood, gas and solar power.
Documents show that Zesa sold 1 309 new smart meters nationwide during the period. Most of the meters were installed in residential properties but could not be registered on the new billing platform.
The distribution of the affected meters included 372 in Zesa’s eastern province, 268 in Harare, 74 in Zesa’s northern province, 251 in the southern province and 344 in the western province.
The Independent was told that older smart meters were successfully transferred to the Zums system and continued to function normally, allowing customers to buy electricity tokens without disruption.
ZETDC told the Independent that the new billing platform had been procured through a public tender from Chinese firm Longshine Technology Group Company Limited.
“The Zums system was procured for about US$5 million, excluding VAT and duty, covering both software and hardware components,” the utility said.
“The Zums system was procured from Longshine Technology Group Company Limited of China under tender number ZETDC/INTER/05/2024 for the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of a billing system under Special Procurement (Oversight Committee resolution number 0784 of October 2024).”
The utility acknowledged that some customers experienced difficulties purchasing electricity tokens between December and March.
However, it noted that it had advanced electricity units to affected customers while the migration was being finalised.
“The utility lost minimal revenue as it was proactive in advancing energy units to affected customers who continued to utilise power while their registration was being finalised,” ZETDC said.
“Recovery of the advanced units was then processed upon customer registration.”
ZETDC said such challenges were inevitable when rolling out a new system.
“With the introduction of any new system, migration challenges may be experienced as users familiarise themselves with the new platform,” the utility said.
“This challenge has since been addressed, and the teams are currently seized with fast-tracking the registration of all affected customers.”
However, several affected said they never received the promised advance electricity units.
Some said they paid about US$200 for new smart meters in December, but were told the Zums system was down whenever they attempted to buy electricity tokens.
One customer said: “I bought my smart meter when Zums was already in place, but it failed to register new meters.
“I do not understand why Zesa connected us when they knew the system was not working. As a customer, I feel cheated because I paid for a service that was not available. I never received any advance power tokens.”
ZETDC said the new system had been necessary to modernise its billing operations.
“The utility’s previous billing system was a mono-currency system, which was unable to handle both foreign currency-billed customers and local currency-billed customers simultaneously while remaining compliant with Zimbabwe’s tax laws,” the company said.
“Additionally, the utility had many fragmented systems that needed to be integrated, hence the need for a commercial enterprise system capable of supporting smart metering, prepaid billing, net metering and automated billing processes.”