In the statement, ZETDC acknowledged the inconveniences caused and urged people to access normal services from selected banking halls nationwide as the technical team was working flat out to restore normal services.
The selected points are contained in the statement issued to the press.
The Ministry of Energy and Power Development successfully launched the prepaid metering technology in 2012 that replaced the conventional billing system that had been posing challenges to ZETDC, a subsidiary of ZESA Holdings. To date a lot of customers have migrated to prepaid meters.
The smart/prepaid metering resulted in consumers changing their usage behaviour to efficient use, with the meters bringing benefits that encompass consumers monitoring their own electricity usage and complete control of their budgets.
Paying for electricity was also made easier as electricity could be purchased from more outlets such as supermarkets and shops. ZETDC, a unit of Zesa Holdings, is owed $1,05 billion by defaulting domestic, mining, industrial and business consumers that are still on the post-paid electricity system.
The prepaid metering system deducts about 20 percent from prepayments by defaulting customers and is now ZETDC's main debt collection strategy. Zesa plans to install 800 000 pre-paid and 140 000 smart meters this year helping to save some $120 million by year end.
More than 136 000 customers on post paid metering owe amounts as high as $1 000, while 56 000 customers owe between $1 000 and $5 000. Smart metering system has enhanced revenue collection for the power distribution and transmission utility.
ZETDC deals in the distribution and retail of electricity to the final end user.
