adminin using the newly installed Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) prepaid meters, the power utility’s Southern region General Manager, Engineer King Dube has said.
In an interview yesterday Eng Dube said the elderly residents were failing to recharge their electricity power, as they were still struggling to adapt to the new system.
He said ZETDC has since introduced a 24-hour customer call service to assist residents facing challenges with the prepaid meter system.
“Some of our customers are facing challenges in using these prepaid meters. Most of them are still to familiarise themselves with the meters, as it is still a new development. They are failing to read signs like the flashing red light on their meters. Our customers, especially the elderly, are also failing to recharge their electricity. As an organisation we have set up a 24-hour customer call service to assist residents at any given time. We have also been teaching our customers how to recharge their power and read the meters from the day we install them,” he said.
Eng Dube said different families, who rent the same house, face challenges.
He said usually such families fail to come up with a plan that would ensure that there was equal usage of electricity.
Consumers have also expressed concern with ZETDC’s inefficiency in speedily registering newly installed meters.
Eng Dube, however, said the problem of challenges in registration had since been solved.
“We used to have a problem with the registration process of these meters. This was mainly because we were using a single machine. The problem has, however, since been solved. Our major challenge now is the slow pace at which the whole process of installing new meters is taking. We installed 10 200 in Gweru and have moved to Kwekwe where 4 200 meters from a targeted 27 000 have been installed. We are not planning to fail in this project. We are going to install meters in all households within 10 months as per our plan,” he said.
Eng Dube said the project was primarily meant to benefit customers more in their endeavour to manage their power consumption.
“As a result of the meters installed so far we have reduced our levels of load shedding especially in high-density areas. This project is being done concurrently with the distribution of power energy saver bulbs.
“The province received 15 400 bulbs, which are to be distributed in the high-density areas first,” he said.
He said the bulbs were distributed in Mkoba suburb in Gweru and Mbizo suburb in Kwekwe.
“We have targeted high-density areas first under this programme. We will also be distributing energy savers to low density households when we receive our next batch,” said Eng Dube
Vusumuzi Dube
Online Reporter