Is it legal for ZESA to make us responsible for someone elses debt?

Question

We took over the tenancy of this house in March 2013. A prepayment meter was installed in December 2012. We went to the banking hall in Wynne Street to get the account changed to our name. They would not do it as there was debt on the account. They could not tell us what it was. We went a second time a couple of months later and discovered there was a debt of over $1000. Now every time we buy electricity ZESA keep 25% of it.I have emailed ZESA twice once using their form on their website and once to an email address that I found on their website. Both emails have been totally ignored. What can I do?

Answer 1

Maybe a little late now, but get a new prepaid meter and open a new account.  The old account needs to be sent to collections which should figure out how to resolve.

Answer 2

Personally l would charge it back to the landlord, l mean deduct it from his/her rentals then the landlord will be pushed to sort it out with zesa.

Thats what l did with mine when l found a water bill which was over 1000.

Bt legally, zesa should not charge you unless if you all them money on your account from elsewhere.

Go and cause a commotion to me its the only language these greed corrupt officials understand

Answer 3

ZESA cares about the account number not the account holders name so as long as someone is paying they will deduct their 25%, so your negotiations shouldnt be with ZESA but with the previous tenant . if you take this problem to ZESA they will tell you the same thing, had a similar problem last year, ended up going to the previous tenant and made a deal with him that we shall pay half of the debt he had accumulated then for the remaining half we would pay it off as we buy the electricity tokens but at the end of the month that tenant was to pay us back all the money that ZESA had deducted during our payments for that month. *Luckily he could afford that deal....

Comments

Unfortunately the previous tenant died in January 2013. I made a mistake about when we went to Wynne Street the second time. It was when ZESA started to deduct money from what we put on.When we bought electricity on the 19th March 2014 they started taking 20% then on the 28th May 2014 they started taking 25%. We also missed out on the $150 bonus that they gave everyone because it went on reducing the previous tenant's bill.