Zesa is working on a debt recovery strategy to pin consumers, including bigwigs who owe the power utility $1 billion in unpaid bills, Energy and Power Development Minister Dr Samuel Undenge said yesterday.
Some Government Ministers and senior civil servants are not paying their electricity bills, with some owing tens of thousands of dollars at their homes and farms. If they don’t pay for the services, Zesa will come to a stage where it will not be able to deliver that service.
The move would have seen consumers being forced to pay high monthly instalments towards servicing their debts before accessing electricity.
Though Zesa’s proposed tariffs have remained a secret, sources said the utility wanted the price pegged at 14 cents per kilowatt per hour up from 9,86c/Kwh.
The average electricity cost in the Southern African region is 14c/kWh.