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How many units K100 buys at the current ZESCO tariff, why the second hundred costs three times the first, what those units will run, and a check on whether you were charged the right rate.
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You hand over K100 at the vendor and find out how many units you got afterwards. This page tells you first.
The rates are the Energy Regulation Board's own, approved on 31 October 2025 and in force since 1 November. They are stepped: the first hundred units of the month are the cheapest electricity in Zambia, and the hundred after that costs nearly three times as much. Put in what you want to spend, and it works out the units, what those units will run, and — at the bottom — whether a purchase you already made came out at the right price.
How to tell: If the meter is in a house and the connection is an ordinary domestic one, this is it. ZESCO can confirm the tariff on your meter number: 0211 363636 or contactcentre@zesco.co.zm.
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.
Line by line, from what you hand over to what reaches the meter:
| Line | Amount | units |
|---|---|---|
| First 100 units — at K0.42 | K41.82 | 100 |
| Units 101–200 — at K1.19 | K58.18 | 48.7 |
| Total | K100.00 | 148.7 |
Every rate on this page includes the 3% government excise duty and 16% VAT, because that is what you actually hand over. The ERB and ZESCO both publish their tariffs BEFORE tax — the ERB's approved first-step rate is K0.35 and ZESCO's own table says “exclusive of taxes” — so the headline figures you see elsewhere are about 19% below what a token costs. Both numbers are shown here.
The steps are counted on what the meter uses in a MONTH, not on each purchase. The ERB sets them that way and ZESCO's own bill table works that way — 100 units come to K35 before tax and 200 units to K135, which is the first hundred at K0.35 plus the second at K1.00. So a second token in the same month buys fewer units than the first, and the cheap steps come back at the start of the next month.
No fixed monthly charge on this tariff
148.7 units is roughly:
| Appliance | How much | units per use |
|---|---|---|
| Phone charge | 14,869.6 full charges | 0.01 |
| Four LED lightsAll four on at once | 3,717.4 hours | 0.04 |
| TV | 1,487 hours | 0.1 |
| KettleA full 2 kW kettle from cold | 1,351.8 boils | 0.11 |
| Borehole pumpA 1 hp submersible pump. Lusaka has more than 3,000 private boreholes and the pump is often the largest single thing on the meter. | 198.3 hours | 0.75 |
| FridgeAn ordinary fridge-freezer, running all day | 148.7 days | 1 |
| Iron | 148.7 hours | 1 |
| One stove plateOn high — the number to hold against what a bag of charcoal costs | 99.1 hours | 1.5 |
| Electric geyserThe element only runs while it is heating, not all day | 49.6 hours of heating | 3 |
These are typical ratings, not measurements of your house. An older appliance, a bigger one, or a cold week will move them. Use them to compare one thing against another — a geyser against a kettle — rather than to predict a month exactly.
Take your last slip. Put in what you paid and the units you got, and this divides one by the other and holds it against the published rate. It is a check on your own purchase, so it stays right even if our figures fall behind ZESCO's — and it is the only way to find out how the steps actually behave on your meter.
Keep the slip — it carries the meter number, the amount and the units, which is everything needed to trace a purchase. ZESCO's contact centre is 0211 363636 and contactcentre@zesco.co.zm. If ZESCO's own process is exhausted and you are still not satisfied, the Energy Regulation Board is the regulator and takes complaints about electricity accounts.
In force from 1 November 2025. They hold until 31 October 2026. The ERB approved these on 31 October 2025 to run to 31 October 2026, after which ZESCO has to file a true-up report before any new rates take effect. Nothing newer had been published when this page was checked.
| Which tariff are you on? | Price of one unit | Standing charges |
|---|---|---|
| Residential (up to 15 kVA) | K1.19 | — |
| Commercial (up to 15 kVA) | K1.61 | — |
| Units in the month | Price per unit |
|---|---|
| First 100 unitsThe lifeline step. The ERB held this rate unchanged in October 2025 specifically to protect low-use households. | K0.42 |
| Units 101–200Also held unchanged. Together with the first step, this is what a low-use household pays for. | K1.19 |
| Units 201–400The step where the price stops being gentle. It came down from K2.46 in the October 2025 decision. | K2.89 |
| Every unit above 400Cut hard in October 2025, from K4.80 to K3.45 before tax. | K4.12 |
In October 2025 ZESCO asked the Energy Regulation Board to split residential customers into a lifeline tariff and a standard one for everybody else. The ERB refused, and instead went back to four steps for all residential customers, holding the first two rates exactly where the emergency tariff had put them — K0.35 and K1.00 before tax — while cutting the top step from K4.80 to K3.45. Its own decision says this was to safeguard lifeline customers.
The practical effect: 100 units cost about K42 including tax. The next 100 cost about K119. The hundred after that cost about K289 — nearly seven times the first hundred. Where you sit on that ladder matters more than anything else on this page.
Source: ERB — Board's decision on ZESCO's tariff application, 31 October 2025, checked 4 September 2026 (today).
The steps are defined on a month's consumption. What nobody publishes — not ZESCO, not the ERB, not the customer portal — is exactly how a PREPAID meter counts that month: whether the ladder runs across every token you buy between the 1st and the 31st, or restarts somewhere else. We looked, and we would rather say so than guess.
This page assumes the calendar month, because that is what the published tariff says. If you buy twice in a month and the second token gives you noticeably fewer units per kwacha, that confirms it. If it gives you the same, it does not. Either way the rate check below will show you, and the correction link at the foot of this page reaches us — this is exactly the kind of thing residents know and documents do not.
ZESCO's own tariff page carries a third column headed “Pre-approved 2026/2027” — K0.54, K1.28, K2.83 and K4.04 before tax. Those are not the rates being charged now. The ERB's approved tariffs run to 31 October 2026, and the Board has said ZESCO must submit a true-up report before moving to the next set. If you see the higher numbers quoted somewhere, that is which column they came from.
Source: ZESCO — tariff schedule, checked 4 September 2026 (today).
It is arithmetic on published rates. It is not your account, it cannot see your meter, and it has no view on load shedding — for that, see “Is Load Shedding On?” on this town's page. If a figure here and a figure from ZESCO disagree, ZESCO's is the one that governs what you owe. But a difference you can name and show is a much better starting point than a feeling that something is wrong.
149 units for K100
Residential (up to 15 kVA) · if you have bought none yet this month
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