ZETDC implements compensation policy

THE Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has a policy of compensating the public for replacing vandalised power infrastructure with electricity tokens, ensuring communities remain connected.

Due to financial constraints, the company occasionally delays replacing vandalised infrastructure, prompting community assistance. In 2023, ZETDC recorded over 1 500 electricity vandalism cases, posing a threat to national economic productivity. The cost of vandalised energy infrastructure reached millions of dollars.

Responding to questions during the National Assembly Question and Answer session on Thursday, Energy and Power Development Minister Edgar Moyo explained that the power utility’s low tariffs hindered timely replacement of some vandalised infrastructure. To expedite infrastructure replacement, certain clients offered to purchase equipment for ZETDC through the Customer Supplied Material Scheme.

“The utility has not been able to implement the provision of power infrastructure through the distribution network extension due to incapacitation after many years of a non-cost reflective tariff. The clients then came up with an initiative to replace the equipment and donate to ZETDC at no cost. In response to this initiative, ZETDC put in place the Customer Supplied Material Scheme (Chapter 12 of 2022 Commercial Guidelines). This would ensure that clients benefit from their contribution of replacing vandalised and faulted equipment through supply of energy units (electricity tokens),” said Minister Moyo.

Minister Moyo clarified that if clients replace vandalised infrastructure using their own resources, they receive energy units instead of a cash refund. While this approach is not mandatory, it proves beneficial for clients, ensuring they do not endure extended periods without electricity connectivity while the power utility mobilises resources.

“This scheme however, does not apply to new connections where the client supplies materials in place of connection fees for this arrangement where there is no compensation. Compensation is only availed where replacement of existing equipment either faulted or vandalised has been replaced but for new connections, there is no compensation for own materials,” said Minister Moyo.

Minister Moyo mentioned that while tariffs have slightly increased, ZETDC is now likely to respond more quickly than before. However, the challenge of cash flows remains. The company is actively refurbishing all the broken infrastructure and the replacement of vandalised transformers depends on the availability of resources.

“On the refurbishment of broken-down infrastructure, there is a programme that is running throughout the country. Some poles are on the ground, some transformers broke down while others were stolen. So that programme is ongoing right now. These refurbishments have been as a result of non-cost-effective targets where incoming revenue is not sufficient to work on these refurbishments,” said Minister Moyo. — @nqotshili