Pre-paid electricity units to be sold in supermarkets

Electricity consumers in Bulawayo will by the end of next month be able to buy pre-paid electricity units at retail outlets such as OK supermarkets.

In an interview at the sidelines of a poorly attended public hearing of Parliament Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy at a local hotel, Zesa public relations manager Mr Fullard Gwasira said plans were under way to decentralise selling of prepaid electricity units.

Bulawayo residents are still queuing at Zesa offices to buy prepaid electricity units and at times the workers are overwhelmed by the numbers.

"We are working on decentralising the selling of these units.

We recently upgraded our system to accept the third part and by end of July we hope that we will be able to decentralise the selling of prepaid electricity units in Bulawayo. In Harare people can buy their prepaid electricity units at a number of places such OK Supermarket and we also want the same to happen in Bulawayo," said Mr Gwasira.

Zimbabwe has 600 000 registered electricity consumers and Zesa expects all of them to have prepaid meters by the end of the year.

Residents who attended the meeting said locals were not being employed by the power utility company for general jobs like those hired to installing energy servers. "In Bulawayo it is shocking to find out that most people who were employed to install energy servers were not from this region. Zesa needs to empower local people," said one of the residents who attended the meeting.

"The company should also improve its communication channels."

Another resident suggested that the Government should invest in solar energy which is also environmentally friendly. "Zesa can sell solar panels to consumers on terms," said the resident.