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HRT submission to Parliament Committee on ZESA
Harare Residents' Trust (HRT)
June 16, 2011

The Chairperson of the Committee,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Harare Residents' Trust (HRT) commends your committee for taking the issue of electricity supplies to the people. It is our hope that this interaction will result in an improvement in the operations of the national power utility. We also expect that the power utility will address citizens expressed concerns.

Introduction

The HRT is an independent non-partisan residents' body that was established by concerned citizens in February 2008. Our vision is to see a free and prosperous citizenry while our mission is to build capacity for productive engagement among citizens, their elected representatives and service providers as means to improve living standards in communities/ suburbs.

Context of Presentation

Across Zimbabwe, and the suburbs, residents are concerned with the level of power distribution. Load shedding is inconsistent. Bills in most areas are based on estimates, resulting in huge arrears by electricity consumers. Electric cables in the residential areas are left bare, exposing residents to serious threats of loosing their lives. Suspected employees of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) are allegedly demanding residents' monetary contributions towards the purchase of damaged electricity infrastructure like transformers. Residents are being switched off for non-payment of the full amounts owed to the power utility. The HRT also recognises the prevalent cases of vandals destroying electricity infrastructure, leaving most communities in darkness for long times.

Key Issues for Attention

Estimated Billing

While the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company (ZETDC) has attempted to provide citizens with accurate meter readings for billing on actual power consumption, the majority of citizens have endured the agony of receiving estimated bills most of the time. In other communities, residents go for months without receiving a single bill from the ZETDC, forcing some responsible citizens to travel to ZESA Headquarters or their Wayne Street branch to enquire and subsequently pay their bills. This is an inconvenience that citizens can do without. The HRT hopes that ZESA employees take these issues seriously and respond by providing sufficient educational materials. ZESA has resorted to massive advertisement in the media on their issues. However, they need to revisit this strategy in informing citizens by making use of the PR or marketing departments to be readily available to partner residents' bodies and other key stakeholders in safeguarding ZESA infrastructure or explaining the billing system in the
communities.

Following the introduction of the multi-currency payment system in February 2009, the then Minister of Power and Energy Development Engineer Elias Mudzuri said consumers could pay anything from US$10 for electricity consumption. But in April 2009, the same Minister said those in the high density areas should pay US$30 and those in the low density areas should pay a monthly bill of US$40, taking away the relevance of meters. ZESA proceeded to implement this directive. How the Minister arrived at this figure, considering the economic challenges being experienced by consumers remains a mystery to the HRT. Bills that followed shocked many electricity consumers, leading to a massive resistance in rates payment, resulting in these huge bills that most residents owe to ZESA. The current Minister of Energy and Power Development HRT Submission to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Parastatals and State Enterprises Mr Elton Mangoma has also not intervened to address this inconsistent billing position taken by the same Ministry.

Electricity Disconnections

Citizens have been disconnected without due regard to the law of natural justice which requires communication with the defaulter before drastic measures are taken.

Load Shedding

It needs to be noted that ZESA communicated to the whole nation of the work being out in Hwange and Kariba concerning power supplies. Residents have seen their electric gadgets exploding due to the unpredictable electricity supplies. Schedules have been published and distributed but have not been adhered to.

Remuneration Structure at ZESA

It has become like the norm for ZESA senior management to drive around in luxury vehicles, expensive to maintain and real fuel guzzlers, drawn from the consumers. There has not been upgrade of ZESA infrastructure in the communities. Lives have been lost due to exposed cables, and ZESA has not done enough to safeguard citizens against electrocution.

Recommendations

Estimated Billing

• ZETDC, under ZESA should have the capacity to visit every household with a meter to read and bill actual consumption.
• The Minister of Energy and Power Development has to intervene and define the billing policy as announced by then Minister Mudzuri who left people in confusion over what to pay. The huge bills that some consumers of electricity have accumulated are a direct result of the policy bungling by the then Minister.
• ZESA must be taken to task for billing consumers similar amounts irrespective of whether or not they have electricity in the respective month. Consumers must be charged for services rendered and not estimates.
• ZESA's pricing and billing policy should focus on customer service and not on revenue collection as is the current situation. They collect money to cover their recurrent expenditure than charge for actual services rendered.
• Electricity should be affordable to the common people but not to subsidise villagers and
  farmers for political reasons.

Electricity Disconnection

• Power disconnections need to be informed by rationality and not impulsive. The demands by ZESA that disconnected consumers pay 60 percent of total owed is unacceptable.
• There has to be an understanding of the circumstances that caused the failure to pay in the first place.
• If electricity disconnections become prevalent this has the potential to spark massive protests from the citizenry, which might cost life and limb in the process. However, as the HRT, we have received several reports of abuse of office by ZESA employees in the community who demand bribes for people not to be disconnected. Those who pay have their electricity restored but nothing happens to their bills which increases the risk of disturbances.

.Load Shedding

• This should be balanced, fair and justifiable. The current situation has seen some communities, for example in parts of Crowborough in Kuwadzana where there are HRT Submission to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Parastatals and State Enterprises several ZESA employees, as well as in a part of Westgate, they always have electricity supplies, irrespective of the announcements by ZESA that load shedding will increase.
• Load shedding schedules have to be adhered to. An orderly and transparent load shedding schedule is recommended.
• ZESA should have annual and long-term strategic plans for constructing new power plants and scheduled maintenance of existing power generation infrastructure so as to avoid numerous breakdowns the nation has experienced. People now call it Zimbabwe Electricity Shortage Authority.

Remuneration Structure

• ZESA management has to balance between the need to retain key personnel and the necessity to improve services rendered to the consumers who make the hefty salaries possible. This imbalance has the potential to create tensions among the citizens who will have justification to refuse to pay in time because there would be a feeling that they are sustaining the extravagant lifestyles of senior ZESA management.

Conclusion

The HRT is grateful to your committee for being there to protect the interests of citizens around issues of service provision and other pertinent issues regarding electricity supplies. We are united against any elitist systems that erode the power of the citizenry to demand accountability and transparency. We hope this submission will encourage you to seriously look into strengthening existing policies and systems governing power generation, supply and billing.

Thank you

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