ZETDC's approved tariff is set in US dollars and paid in ZiG at the interbank rate on the day you buy, which is why the local price never sits still. The dollar figures barely move. The ZiG figures get restated whenever the rate does, so last month's screenshot is not a price list.
At the rates in force this week, the first band costs about ZiG 2.25 a unit with the rural electrification levy included, and anything above 400 units in the same month costs about ZiG 7.32. Same electricity. More than three times the price.
That gap is the whole game, and almost nobody plans around it. The bands are counted from your first purchase of the calendar month and they reset on the 1st, whatever day you happened to buy.
Knowing the dollar figure protects you when the ZiG number looks wrong. Divide what you paid by the units you received and compare it with the cent rate for the band you were in. If the answer sits far above 26 cents, something other than the tariff took your money, and ZETDC publishes a units calculator on its self-service portal that will settle the argument before you queue anywhere.
Buying the discounted quota that resets every month in full costs around ZiG 2,041 at current rates, near US$72, which works out at an average of about ZiG 5.10 a unit for 400 units. The cheapest 50 of those units cost ZiG 113. The dearest 50, bought once you are into the top band, cost ZiG 366 for identical electricity.
Splitting one purchase into five small ones changes nothing, because the meter tracks your running total for the month rather than the size of each top-up. Work out where you stand before you buy, which means checking the purchases already sitting against your meter number rather than guessing from the balance on the wall.
Stored credit is where households lose real money without noticing. There is no cap on how much credit a meter can hold, so nothing stops you loading 900 units in one month. You will simply have paid top-band rates for the last 500 of them, then start the following month with an empty basket of cheap units you never used. Spreading the same annual consumption evenly across 12 months, and buying the bulk of each month's power before you cross 200 units, is the only discount available to an ordinary household.
Winter is when this bites. Geysers and heaters push a family that normally sits at 250 units into the 400-plus band, and the extra consumption gets charged at the steepest rate rather than the average one, which is why a bill that feels twice as high often reflects usage that only rose by a third.
Run the numbers on that, and the shock makes sense. A ZiG 500 purchase with arrears attached behaves like a ZiG 400 purchase, so a first buy of the month lands at roughly 136 units instead of 158. Nothing on the token tells you this happened. The token is smaller, and that is the only clue you get.
If you believe you carry no debt and your units still come up short by about a fifth, that is a specific, checkable claim rather than a vague grievance. Ask ZETDC which account the deduction is servicing, get the balance in writing, and check it against the payment history for your meter number, because arrears are sometimes inherited from a previous occupant of the same address rather than earned by you.
At the rates in force this week, the first band costs about ZiG 2.25 a unit with the rural electrification levy included, and anything above 400 units in the same month costs about ZiG 7.32. Same electricity. More than three times the price.
That gap is the whole game, and almost nobody plans around it. The bands are counted from your first purchase of the calendar month and they reset on the 1st, whatever day you happened to buy.
The tariff is written in dollars, not ZiG
The approved schedule runs from 8 US cents a unit for the first 50 units to 26 cents for everything past 400, before the 6 percent levy lands on top. Six bands, each steeper than the last. Domestic prepaid customers move up them as the month goes on.Knowing the dollar figure protects you when the ZiG number looks wrong. Divide what you paid by the units you received and compare it with the cent rate for the band you were in. If the answer sits far above 26 cents, something other than the tariff took your money, and ZETDC publishes a units calculator on its self-service portal that will settle the argument before you queue anywhere.
Your fourth purchase of the month is the expensive one
Here is the arithmetic that changes behavior. Spend ZiG 500 as your first purchase in a fresh month and you climb the first three bands and end up with roughly 158 units. Spend the same ZiG 500 in the last week of a month where you have already burnt through 400 units, and you get about 68 units.Buying the discounted quota that resets every month in full costs around ZiG 2,041 at current rates, near US$72, which works out at an average of about ZiG 5.10 a unit for 400 units. The cheapest 50 of those units cost ZiG 113. The dearest 50, bought once you are into the top band, cost ZiG 366 for identical electricity.
Splitting one purchase into five small ones changes nothing, because the meter tracks your running total for the month rather than the size of each top-up. Work out where you stand before you buy, which means checking the purchases already sitting against your meter number rather than guessing from the balance on the wall.
Stored credit is where households lose real money without noticing. There is no cap on how much credit a meter can hold, so nothing stops you loading 900 units in one month. You will simply have paid top-band rates for the last 500 of them, then start the following month with an empty basket of cheap units you never used. Spreading the same annual consumption evenly across 12 months, and buying the bulk of each month's power before you cross 200 units, is the only discount available to an ordinary household.
Winter is when this bites. Geysers and heaters push a family that normally sits at 250 units into the 400-plus band, and the extra consumption gets charged at the steepest rate rather than the average one, which is why a bill that feels twice as high often reflects usage that only rose by a third.
Old debt takes its cut before you see a single unit
There is one more deduction that explains most complaints about short measure. Under ZETDC's own prepaid rules, a customer carrying arrears has 20 percent of every purchase taken toward that debt until it clears, and the units are calculated on what remains.Run the numbers on that, and the shock makes sense. A ZiG 500 purchase with arrears attached behaves like a ZiG 400 purchase, so a first buy of the month lands at roughly 136 units instead of 158. Nothing on the token tells you this happened. The token is smaller, and that is the only clue you get.
If you believe you carry no debt and your units still come up short by about a fifth, that is a specific, checkable claim rather than a vague grievance. Ask ZETDC which account the deduction is servicing, get the balance in writing, and check it against the payment history for your meter number, because arrears are sometimes inherited from a previous occupant of the same address rather than earned by you.
