ZESA in debt collection blitz

 Talent Gore

THE Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has embarked on an “aggressive debt-collection blitz” to recover more than US$62 million and $17 billion owed by consumers.

Zesa is currently importing electricity from Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa at an estimated cost of US$17 million per month.

In a speech read on his behalf by Zesa group financial controller, Eliab Chikwenhere, during a handover ceremony of operational vehicles and work equipment by the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), Zesa executive chairperson Dr Sydney Gata warned defaulting customers that they will soon be disconnected.

“Zesa has secured 300MW from Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) of Mozambique, Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique, Eskom of South Africa and ZESCO of Zambia,” he said. In as much as we try to capacitate the business break even and deliver excellent quality service, we are owed US$62 million and $17 billion by customers.

“We have since embarked on an aggressive debt-collection blitz to recover what is owed to us. Just this past weekend, we disconnected various defaulters.”

On service vehicles, Dr Gata said ZETDC needs about 2 000 vehicles to reach optimal fleet size.

“In the 2022 procurement plan, ZETDC targeted to procure at least 1 000 various operational vehicles,” he said.

“As of today, we have received 30 operational vehicles and two personal-issue vehicles for our engineers as per the contractual obligations.

“Seven lorries are already in Harare undergoing pre-delivery inspection. We expect delivery of eight more lorries in September 2022.”