ZESA is owed billions by ordinary customers a lot of whom are defaulters who haven’t paid in a while. The power utility introduced prepaid meters allowing them to collect on some of these debts however a lot of individuals and businesses still owe the power utility.

Now they have come up with a new strategy to force customers to pay what they owe. Blacklisting or at least the threat of them being blacklisted.

[ZESA]has intensified debt collection of all monies owed. Newly added is the strategy of blacklisting defaulters with Credit Bureaus until all debt & interest is paid. Under Phase 1, 28 000 defaulting customers, are set to be handed over.
Blacklisting includes defaulting Companies & Individuals .To avoid being blacklisted, defaulting customers are advised to visit the nearest customer service centre & negotiate a payment plan to avoid definite inconveniences.
ZESA on Twitter

Who are these customers? Am I one of them?

If you are wondering if you are one of these customers and wonder whether you are among the 28 000 that are about to be blacklisted you have to get in touch with ZESA and find out. When one person asked for the list ZESA refused to provide it citing privacy laws.

It’s possible they have already communicated the threat to affected customers already otherwise the whole exercise will be pointless if those who are about to be blacklisted don’t know it.

Will the threat work

ZESA’s prepaid system has worked wonders for them in terms of debt collection. The threat of blacklisting is unlikely to even approach that success. It might be more effective on business defaulters than individuals who are already weighed down by spiralling prices. There aren’t many credit providers in Zimbabwe anyway.