There is a popular ZESA myth which says that if you buy electricity on the first day of each month your token will be much cheaper than if you buy on any other day. The result has been that during the first day and often the first few days of the month, lots of ZESA of customers scramble to buy these “cheap” tokens. This has resulted in the system being overwhelmed to the point of being non-responsive a number of times.

Right now a lot of people have revealed that they are having trouble getting or buying their ZESA tokens. A lot of these are Ecocash customers. With 95% of the market, Ecocash is no stranger to failed transactions but the volume of complaints we have seen on social media suggests this is more than usual. Customers who use mobile banking and other platforms have also reported problems.

The ZESA calculator is down

A lot of people struggle to understand how much electricity they will get if they spend a certain amount. To help them, ZETDC created a calculator. Customers can enter their meter number and the amount of money they want to spend and the meter will tell them how many units they will get. This calculator is plugged into each account which means that it gives tailored results.

However like the purchasing system it seems the calculator is also down. Currently it is giving a vague 503 error. The error is normally associated with the too much traffic although it can be a result of other things.