Zesco spokesperson Henry Kapata the power utility company has now stopped deducting TV levy through its system following government’s decision to collect the same through other avenues.

Last week, a News Diggers! enquiry revealed that government was collecting double TV levy.

Minister of Information Dora Siliya said government had taken over the responsibility of collecting ZNBC TV levy from from Zesco Limited, effective April 1, 2018, and given it to television service providers.

But Kapata said the utility had continued to collect TV levy after April 1, because there had been no communication from ZNBC instructing them to stop. He added that Zesco management was in talks with the national broadcaster to resolve the matter.

However, in a follow-up interview over the weekend, Kapata said Zesco had now stopped collecting TV levy.

“We have already deactivated, if you buy units now, you will notice that there is no TV levy. So, it’s not there, it’s not indicated. What is happening is that when you buy units, you certainly see that there is no active TV levy, what you are going to see is the fixed charges of K18.0 ngwee and of course the units that you purchased,” Kapata said.

And Kapata said Zesco had so far distributed 3.2 million energy saving bulbs which culminated into saving about 145 Mega Watts of power.

“The other issue is that we have now distributed 3.2 million energy saving bulbs from the time we started, and we have saved about, we have conserved in other word 145 Mega Watts. So, it’s a huge saving, it’s a very huge, huge saving. If you distribute 3.2 million, you conserve 145, it’s like opening another hydro power station. Because Livingstone generates 108, Mega Watts. So, people must know that these ordinary bulbs they are there for certain use. But they should be done away with because they are not helping us. Can image you put a bulb that is producing 90% heat. They are consuming so much from our system. And we just need to partner with our customers countrywide, they can contribute something and we can contribute something towards purchasing the energy saving bulbs. And that is why we have procured 200, 000 energy saving bulbs for ZESCO to distribute and make a replacement to all Zesco structures. We want to lead by example.”

Meanwhile, Kapata revealed that Zesco customer service centers were overly congested on the first day of every month because customers thought purchasing 200 units at 15 ngwee only applied on the first day of the month.

“Now there is an issue where people think that you can only enjoy the 15 ngwee per unit up to 200 units when you buy on the first day of the month. That is really congesting our customer base. You know its just the first time you buy in a month, it does matter when. The first time can be on the 29th, 30th, as long as it’s the fist time you are buying electricity you can still enjoy buying electricity at 15 ngwe per unit up to 200 units. But you know we find our customer service a lot of congested on the first day because people think that if they don’t buy on the fisrt day they will not enjoy those first first 200 units. So, it’s about the first time. Then when 200 units are finished, next time you buy, you buy at 9 ngwe per unit. But our customers are lining up on the first day of the month and congesting our system that is putting us in a very awkward position. Because the system is programmed that it has to be excuting those units gradual not abruptly,” said Kapata.