adminPamela Shumba Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) is in a fix as it has to go through a massive cable separation exercise before it can install prepaid meters in tens of thousands of houses in Bulawayo.The majority of consumers that have no pre-paid meters in Bulawayo have load limit installations that have to be upgraded to the new system but ZETDC has limited funds, a development that may jeorpadise the programme.
Residents in Makokoba last year blocked the power utility from installing pre-paid meters in their houses as it meant that they could end up sharing pre-paid electricity with neighbours, a situation they felt was unworkable.
ZETDC engineering manager for the western region, Lloyd Jaji said the company required $816,000 just for a pilot project in Makokoba suburb, but so far only $25,000 had been availed by last week.
The other suburbs that need upgrading are Mabuthweni, Luveve, Mzilikazi, Nguboyenja, Iminyela, and some parts of Mpopoma and Nkulumane.
“We need to come up with a programme to upgrade load limit installations to enable some consumers to take prepayment meters. The challenge that we have, however, is that the programme requires a lot of money which is not available at the moment,” said Jaji.
He said this during a ZETDC and Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) joint education campaign meeting in Bulawayo that was also attended by residents.
“We have decided to start with a pilot project in Makokoba but it requires $816,000. The company has made available only $25,000 and this means we’ll do it in stages. We are already in the process of buying the required material for the project. We will then go to tender for the remaining projects in the city’s suburbs,” he said.
Jaji said out of the 151, 000 customers in the western region, only 65,072 have pre-paid meters, with 45,365 meters still to be installed in Bulawayo only.
Areas in the western region include Bulawayo, Plumtre, Gwanda, Beitbridge Victoria Falls, Hwange and surrounding areas.
“We received a number of reports about people who were tampering with the meters and by-passing them to avoid paying for electricity. We’re therefore going to install the new meters on the poles in such a way that it would be difficult for the people to tamper with them,” said Jaji.
He appealed to members of the public to desist from vandalising electricity cables, saying vandalism was rife in Richmond, Norwood, Northvale and along Gwanda Road.
Speaking at the same meeting Rosemary Siyachitema, the CCZ executive director said the meeting was meant to create a platform for dialogue between service providers and customers.
“This is an important meeting where we bring together service providers and consumers to map the way forward in all outstanding issues. We want to play that role to give a chance to both the service provider and the consumer to say out what they expect from each other,” said Siyachitema.
“This was after realising that there is no opportunity to sit down and discuss outstanding issues. I believe it’s important for sevice proividers to know their customers and for customers to also know their responsibilities.”
She said such meetings had proved to be useful and created a progressive relationship between the two parties.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter