700 signatures on prepaid meter petition

More than 700 signatures have been collected on a petition to have pre-paid electricity meters installed in Newcastle homes. These were handed by petition organiser, Nadine du Preez, to the strategic executive director of the electrical department, Lindile Zincume, on Tuesday morning.

While Mr Zincume said that he is committed to answering the community’s call, municipal manager, Kebone Masange, still insists that prepaid meters will not necessarily be the answer to reducing high bills.

“People are getting fed-up,” said Mrs du Preez, referring to the conversations she had with residents who signed the petition. “It seems like, the more you try to save electricity, the higher your bill seems to be, and it’s ridiculous.”

Residents now feel that the municipality’s revenue collection department is either making gross errors or deliberately overcharging on the accounts, and feel prepaid systems would be more reliable as it would enable them to monitor their usage themselves.

However, Mr Masange has once again warned that the prepaid system could mean a higher tariff, and will definitely involve residents being charged an additional monthly fixed cost, once the meters are installed.

“I think that once people are exposed to the prepaid system, many of them will want to revert to the old system, but before the system is implemented, the contractor will have to go out the community and explain exactly how it will work and how much it will cost. Residents will then have to apply to have the prepaid meters installed and will sign a contract with the municipality,” said Mr Masange.

Asked when the roll out of prepaid meters would take place, Mr Masange said that he couldn’t tell. “We have follow all the processes and these take time, especially since the pilot project is on ice until objections to the tender being awarded are resolved,” concluded Mr Masange.