Stepped prepaid (most homes) · if you have bought none yet this month
Today's ZESA token prices in ZiG and US dollars, step by step through the month, from ZETDC's tariff and the Reserve Bank's rate sheet published this morning.
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ZESA tokens are priced in steps that count up through the month. The first 50 units you buy after the 1st are the cheapest, and every unit past 400 costs more than three times as much. So the same money buys a lot on the 2nd of the month and much less on the 25th.
Put in what you want to spend and what you have already bought since the 1st, and this works out what the token should give you, in ZiG or US dollars.
How to tell: Buy two tokens in the same month and compare. If the second gives fewer units for the same money, you are on the stepped tariff.
What your money buys
The steps below are counted over the whole month, not per purchase. Put in what you have already bought since the month started so the answer starts from the right step. Leave it at 0 if this is your first purchase.
84.6 units
You get
at ZiG2.37 per unit
ZiG200.00
That costs
ZiG2.37
What you actually pay per unit
Everything taken off this purchase, divided by the units it bought.
Where the money goes
Line by line, from what you hand over to what reaches the meter:
Line
Amount
units
First 50 units — at ZiG2.25
ZiG112.51
50
51 to 100 units — at ZiG2.53
ZiG87.49
34.6
Total
ZiG200.00
84.6
Every price here includes the 6% Rural Electrification Levy. Household electricity is zero-rated for VAT (Statutory Instrument 168 of 2012), so there is no VAT on a domestic token.
The steps count every unit bought on your meter since the 1st of the month, across every token, and start again from the cheapest step on the 1st of the next month. Buying US$20 once or US$5 four times in the same month gets you exactly the same units.
No fixed monthly charge on this tariff
On Stepped prepaid (most homes) you pay only for the electricity you buy. Nothing is owed in a month you buy nothing.
What that runs
84.6 units is roughly:
Appliance
How much
units per use
LED bulb (10 W)
8,455.8 hours
0.01
Phone charge
5,637.2 full charges
0.02
Television (60 W)
1,409.3 hours
0.06
Kettle, full
563.7 boils
0.15
FridgeA typical household fridge-freezer over 24 hours.
70.5 days
1.2
Iron
84.6 hours
1
Water pump (0.75 kW)The size used to fill a household tank or run a small borehole.
112.7 hours
0.75
Two-plate stove, both on high
42.3 hours
2
Geyser (150 litres), heated from coldHeating 150 litres from 15°C to 60°C. A geyser kept hot all day uses more.
10.8 full heats
7.8
These are typical ratings, not measurements. The rating plate on your own appliance is the figure that counts: watts divided by 1,000 is units per hour.
Check what you were charged
Put in what you paid and the units printed on the token slip. The page works out what that purchase should have given you at the published steps, starting from the units you said you had already bought this month.
Why a purchase can come out different
Units already bought this month moved you into a dearer step. This is the most common reason — put them in the box above and check again.
A ZiG purchase was converted at the bank's, EcoCash's or the vendor's rate for that moment, which can sit a little either side of the Reserve Bank mid-rate used here.
The slip shows the 6% Rural Electrification Levy as a separate line. The prices here already include it.
Your meter is on the flat Standard prepaid tariff rather than the stepped one.
A token bought with a mistyped meter number counts on that other meter's month, not yours.
In force from 1 December 2023. ZERA approved these US-dollar prices from 1 December 2023, and ZETDC's published schedule still carries them. The ZiG price moves every business day with the exchange rate; the tariff itself has not moved.
Which tariff are you on?
Price of one unit
Before tax
Standing charges
Stepped prepaid (most homes)
ZiG4.50
ZiG4.25
—
Standard prepaid (flat rate)
ZiG5.34
ZiG5.04
—
The steps in the tariff
Units in the month
Price per unit
Before tax
First 50 units
ZiG2.25
ZiG2.12
51 to 100 units
ZiG2.53
ZiG2.39
101 to 200 units
ZiG4.50
ZiG4.25
201 to 300 units
ZiG6.47
ZiG6.10
301 to 400 units
ZiG7.03
ZiG6.63
Over 400 units
ZiG7.31
ZiG6.90
Worth knowing
If you can wait for the 1st
Once your units for the month pass 400, every unit costs US$0.276 — more than three times the US$0.085 of the first 50. If a household is near the end of the month and well past 400 units, a token bought on the 1st starts again from the cheapest step. Nothing is gained by splitting a token into small ones within the same month.
Why the ZiG price changes when the tariff has not
ZERA set the tariff in US dollars. ZETDC converts it to ZiG at the moment you buy, at the day's exchange rate. That is why ZiG prices quoted online drift from week to week, and why this page reads the Reserve Bank's rate sheet each business day rather than storing a ZiG price.