Candid prepaid charge has residents seething
Steelburger/Lydenburg News has been sending enquiries to TCLM regarding the new charge since yesterday. The municipality acknowledged the charge but has until now not responded to these queries.
LYDENBURG – A newly implemented “amp charge” on electricity purchases has left residents utterly livid, and contemplating a total shutdown march against Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (TCLM) on Saturday.
On July 1, residents visited the office of the newspaper with regards to a charge being applied to all households that purchased prepaid electricity for the new month.
This charge is not associated with the newly implemented 2020/21 tariff increases.
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According to the DA’s Cllr Dumisani Nkabinde, this extra charge was never tabled before the council and never communicated to the councillors of TCLM.”
We know nothing of this new charge and were only made aware when residents contacted us enquiring about the new amount being deducted from their prepaid purchases. This goes to show that this municipality cares nothing for the residents by charging these exuberant amounts in these trying times.”
According to information received, these charges will be implemented every month. Electricity will hence no longer be charged on a sliding scale, but rather on a fixed rate of R1,95 per unit.
This “new charge” will be deducted from the household’s first electricity purchase every month.
A connection with less than 20 ampere, a charge of R61,41 will be applicable. On a connection of 40 ampere it is R122,82 and on a 60 ampere a charge R184,23 per month.
A resident who purchases R200 of electricity per month will only receive R5,77 worth of electricity.
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An employee of the newspaper purchased her monthly R600 electricity yesterday. Instead of the usual 383,20 units, she only received 185,50 units.
Steelburger/Lydenburg News has been sending enquiries to TCLM regarding the new charge since yesterday. The municipality acknowledged the charge but has until now not responded to these queries.
The newspaper was informed that TCLM’s management had a meeting early this morning regarding the complaints laid against the charge.
Themba Sibiya, communications manager, told Steelburger/Lydenburg News that it would receive feedback as soon as the meeting was adjourned.
Five hours later no feedback had been received.
The newspaper will keep residents informed of any new information is communicated.
