A customer who resides in Tsolamosese told Mmegi Business, "Most of the times the vendors tell us there is no network and this will cause us to stay overnight, sometimes without electricity. BPC (Botswana Power Corporation) has a serious problem".Another customer in Ramotswa said 90 percent of the time vendors do not sell prepaid electricity thanks to network problems, while the BPC office does not experience the same."But when I go to BPC offices I get electricity," she said.Last November, BPC introduced the super-vendors model, a system that encompasses various software to enable electricity retailers to sell to clients using several systems such as Internet, Automated Teller Machines (ATM), cellphones and scratch cards.
The super vendor model added to the BPC's own network of 128 vendors of prepaid electricity countrywide.The model also meant that BPC could streamline resources put up for pre-paid metering. In addition, super vending provides vendor empowerment.BPC financial controller Thatayaone Ndzinge said several issues could lead to network breakdown - planned maintenance of the system, unplanned server downtime, a particular shop or vendor running out of credit or communication networks downtime.
