Tshwane metro is starting this year with a concentrated effort to roll out as many prepaid smart meters as possible.
According to Lindela Mashigo, spokesperson for the metro, 226 meters were installed in December. “However, this year for the month of January we will be installing prepaid smart meters in Wood Hill Estate, Boardwalk, Boardwalk Manor, Silver Lakes Golf Estate, Centurion Golf Estate and the Mooikloof Estate. Each household will be supplied with a smart prepaid meter. The cost thereof will not be paid by the property owner,” Mashigo said.
Providing meters for the various estates follows the successful installation of smart meters at business premises who are major power consumers. The new smart meter will replace conventional and traditional electricity meters. Customers will be required to purchase electricity on a prepaid basis.
Unlike the old meters, the new smart meters have anti-tampering technology and tamper alarms linked to the city’s system, which will reduce energy theft. Mashigo could not give a figure of how many meters are going to be installed.
“This all depends on the individual households. The various households will be informed beforehand when technicians will visit their property to install the new meters and in some cases we will probably have to make special arrangements,” he said.
He said residents will no longer receive unexpected bills as smart prepaid meters send the meter readings automatically to the metro’s back-end systems. “So your consumption is deducted from your prepaid credit in real-time. You can view your credit and consumption on a website, the ‘Self Care Portal’. You will thus know how much electricity you have consumed, and therefore would be able to adjust your consumption and budget accordingly. You will be able to take advantage of Time of Use (ToU) tariffs which offer cheaper off-peak rates.”
Residents of the new smart meter system will be informed of the switch. They will receive an e-mail from smartmeter@tshwane.gov.za informing them when they would be switched from postpaid to prepaid electricity metering.
Beforehand a pre-installation site survey will be conducted to assess the property. Should this not be possible, the installation of the new smart meter will be postponed. The smart prepaid meters will be operational as soon as they are installed and tested.
To purchase electricity, residents will be required to register online. Details on how to register and purchase electricity will be e-mailed. With the installation of the new smart meters residents will be required to register on the ‘Self Care Portal’ (website) in order to be able to purchase electricity.
Information on how this is done can be found at the top of the postpaid electricity bill. Residents will have 72 business hours after installation to register. During this time, the meter will register a negative balance that will be deducted from the amount of the first electricity purchase.
If customers have not topped-up within 72 hours, electricity supply will be interrupted until the customer has topped up to a positive balance. Installation cost will be carried by the metro. There will be no increase in the cost of electricity as a result of the smart meter project and it will have no impact on Eskom’s rebate strategy.
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