Metro closes page on PEU saga
The metro has managed to untangle itself from a relationship that has cost the city and resident’s unnecessarily.
Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga and his administration tasted success in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The metro won a judgment in the PEU Capital Partners smart meter case, which Msimanga called a decisive victory for ratepayers and his administration.
In October 2017 the full bench ruled that the contract between PEU and the ANC administration was invalid.
ALSO READ: UPDATE: Bullets fly as metro police foil east robbery
The judgment held that all deals between Tshwane and PEU and its subsidiary TUMS were unlawful.
This meant the Tshwane metro had to untangle itself from a relationship which had cost the city and residents money said Msimanga.
MMC for corporate and shared services Cilliers Brink said the metro could now remove the PEU meters in the city and replace them with Tshwane meters.
Brink said residents with existing PEU meters were not to stress as no interruption would take place to their services.
He said that now that the metro had won, and would be replacing meters. It would stop paying PEU.
Brink said the replacement of PEU meters would see a reduction in monies paid for electricity.
Brink said the project of replacing the meters would take 4 months but the metro was yet to decide when it would begin.
ALSO READ: Tshwane metro’s efforts to assist the homeless shot down
He said the judgment could not be appealed as both parties had agreed on “the just and equitable remedy”.
“As to the metro’s preparedness, tenders are already in place to replace the meters, and the metering system, however it will not be on the same basis as PEU”, said Brink.
He said from now on the metro would not outsource its revenue collection function to an outside party again.
Msimanga said “we are confident that by next year the City will be in an even better financial position because of the stance we have taken.”
He said “It should be stressed that nothing in the Court victory precludes a criminal investigation and prosecution as a result of the unlawful smart meter contract”.
He said the metro would cooperate with law enforcement agencies in that respect.
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to [email protected] or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
