HARARE, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe power utility ZESA Holdings has warned defaulting customers on its post-paid system to either pay up or face disconnections as it seeks to recover huge sums of unpaid fees.
The warning comes as consumers continue to endure around 18 hours of load-shedding everyday with power usually being restored between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in residential areas.
The situation slightly improves in some areas on Sundays when there is less demand for electricity because many heavy power users in industry will be closed for the weekend.
In a notice posted to consumers Thursday, the power utility through its subsidiary Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) said it had intensified revenue collection in order to recover the huge debt and enable it to enhance service delivery.
The debt recovery program will focus primarily on commercial entities such as hotels, retail shops, bakeries and restaurants, the mining and agriculture sectors and domestic consumers.
"In the interest of quality service provision, ZETDC is implementing its full complement of credit control measures to defaulters who did not make an effort to clear their debts, or engage the power utility for payment plans," the notice said.
Zimbabwe has been grappling with power challenges since the second quarter of 2019 because of various reasons including shortage of foreign currency to pay for imports and reduced local generation caused by aging equipment and reduced water levels at the anchor Kariba hydro-electric scheme.
