“Residents are at the mercy of the people removing old meters and installing new smart prepaid meters,” said Democratic Alliance (DA) ward councillor, Siohban Muller.
The Tshwane metro’s best effort to ensure the smooth role-out of prepaid smart meters has residents in the dark with technicians fumbling in the execution of it, according to residents in areas where smart meters have been installed.
Prior to the roll-out of the meters, the metro went to great lengths to inform residents how this will be done, by whom it will be done, how technicians will be identified and how and when residents will be informed about the instillation of meters. But, by evidence of residents, it seems like technicians were not briefed to what they have to convey to residents.
The problems in the installation of smart meters was exposed when Siobhan Muller, ward councillor for the area, noticed a team installing a meter and stopped to ask them if the resident knew. The contractors could not confirm this, so she rang the owner’s doorbell. The house owner, Johann du Plessis, had no knowledge of the installation, and no idea what to do next.
Johann du Plessis from Lynnwood, Mart-Marie Duvenage (stet) of Strubenkop, and Brando Brepaniotis of 20th Street, Lynnwood, where new smart meters are currently installed, all maintain prior to the installation of smart meters, none of them received any notification of the installation of smart meters in the area or on their properties.
Residents are finding prepaid meters have been installed, with no information supplied to technicians to explain to residents how they should register for prepaid electricity, where to buy prepaid electricity, or any other relevant information.
This week three different teams were installing prepaid meters in Lynnwood and Menlo Park, each with a short list of residents where prepaid meters had to be installed.
Johann du Plessis said he never received any form of notification, either by email, sms or telephone, informing him of the installation.
Brepaniotis said he just happened to see the technicians by chance. “We just bought the house, and I wanted to know what they were doing. They were well identified as being from the council, but aside from that they could give me no information. Lacking information I insisted they should re-install my old meter, something which they did very grudgingly. When I wanted to take a photograph of one of their vehicles for the sake of safety, one of the technicians was quite perturbed about it,” he said.
Duvenage said she too was at a loss what to do after the meter was installed and when she asked the technician, he just pulled up his shoulders and said: “Mevrou, ek weet nie, ek installeer hulle maar net.” She then asked her old meter back to take a photograph of the unused current.
Ward councillor Muller asked how residents are expected to know who to contact or what to do to register. “Only 72 hours is allowed for registration after installation. After this electricity is cut to force people to register. Elderly people who do not have computers will be unable to register online to buy electricity,” Muller said.
She pointed out if contractors do not tell residents the meter is installed, many residents will only find out this was done once electricity has been cut 72 hours later. Those in townships will not be able to register and buy prepaid electricity if they do not have computer access. She warned when old meters are removed, residents should have proof of the last meter reading.
“The Municipality is notorious for incorrect readings where residents are charged huge amounts for electricity they did not use. Only a photograph of the meter is proof that a resident did not consume the registered amount,” she said.
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