Zesa bills dispute spills into court

The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has approached the Administrative Court trying to challenge an order by the Competition and Tariff Commission compelling them to bill consumers using actual meter readings and desist from unfair load-shedding.

Customers complained that the state owned power utility was abusing its monopoly and did not even follow its own published load-shedding schedule. The power utility was also accused of using un-justified estimates to bill customers instead of carrying out actual meter readings.

This forced the Competition and Tariff Commission to launch an investigation into the allegations. In August the CTC directed Zesa to use February 2009 as the starting point for foreign currency billing and all outstanding Zimbabwe dollar charges were to be written off.

It was also ruled that for the charges accrued between February 1 and November 30 last year, Zesa Holdings should use the US$30 monthly rate directed by the Energy Ministry. Zesa has meanwhile appealed the directive arguing “These issues do not fall within the domain of Zesa Holdings,” but rather the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company.

They are also arguing that the reduction of tariffs is the sole task of the Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Commission. The CTC has however dismissed the excuses being given and said the order was correctly directed at Zesa Holdings because it is the one that controls the subsidiaries.