Angry residents of Silver Lakes Estate, walked out in disgust on Wednesday night when a technical team of Tshwane metro and PEU failed to answer a barrage of questions why the roll-out of meters is not working and they have been left in the dark.
A panel of representatives of Tswane metro and Total Utilities Management Services (Pty) Ltd (TUMS), the contractors for PEU tasked to install the meters, consisted of Jim Baldyi (Tshwane metro), Sharyn Biechook (TUMS), André Swart (TUMS) and Phubi Mabotja (Tshwane metro).
Several Democratic Alliance (DA) councillors of the eastern suburbs of Pretoria also attended the meeting to voice the concerns of residents in their areas where the exact same problems with the roll-out of meters are experienced.
In a packed hall, residents fired one question after the other all pointing out each one’s own negative experience with the installation of the meters. The complaints varied from problems experienced in registering, wrong payment for electricity on meters, lack of proof of payment received, lack of answers from the service provider, meters wrongfully swapped, meters not found, unexplained high bills for no electricity used, lack of communication and lack of multiple paying points.
Residents heard for the first time that neither PEU Capital, nor TUMS has had any previous experience in the installment of electric meters. This sparked off wild cries of dismay and a group of residents walking out, claiming it was a waste of time in discussing their problems with the panel.
It was also pointed out at the meeting that the insistence of PEU that residents should sign a contract with them once the meter has been installed, is illegal.
“PEU already received R582 million. Electricity is recovered in terms of the bylaw of the city. The obligation to pay for electricity is contained in the bylaws and our tariffs. On what basis are you compelling residents to sign a contract with you where that payment must be made in terms of the bylaw, because you are in actual fact blackmailing people to sign the contract where they have no legal obligation to do so,” Lex Middelberg of the DA asked.
One of the main questions was the lack of multiple payment outlets such as Checkers, post offices or supermarkets. To this, TUMS replied they are investigating those possibilities.
Bronwynn Engelbrecht said home owners in her ward are experiencing the exact same problems as in Silver Lakes.
“I would appreciate it if you could give us proper information in a pamphlet so residents can be informed exactly how the smart meters are supposed to work. It appears the block tariff is different with prepaid meters to those of people getting electricity without prepaid meters,” she said. Biechook of TUMS remarked she could not answer questions on which she has no background.
“You should be prepared to answer these type of questions if you come to a public meeting,” Engelbrecht retorted.
André van der Wald, councillor for Silver Lakes, who presided as chairman of the meeting, said: “I am getting the feeling that either we have got the wrong people here who can’t answers the questions, or there is a passing-the-buck mentality. The financial amount you are getting is known, so these residents have the right to have answers on their questions. I don’t see any answers coming from the panel. We can write the questions down and if we don’t get those answers in a week’s time then we will approach the City or Tswane to stop the roll-out of meters in Silver Lakes,” he said.
When the panel tried to explain the banking system with all banks, with the exception of ABSA, is working fine, this answer was met with disbelieve.
Gideon van Wyk explained how a payment was made on the wrong number and the battle he had while sitting without electricity for two weeks while he tried in vain to explain the problem to TUMS and asking how to rectify it. “How do you do it? You e-mail your problem but get no joy. You phone and get the answer ‘there is a backlog’.”
André Swart of TUMS answered: “The practical answer to your question is you have done what you can. If you people give me your details we will get people to respond and follow it up.”
The retort to that was: “Your system does not allow to register and pay off once. Every time I make a payment they change the number and you have to register again. There’s a lot of people who fall into this trap.”
Residents were then told the system was designed to use different numbers each time you register. To this the residents wanted to know why not one single number.
Van der Wald suggested to the panel a dedicated email address where residents can send all their queries. “We have been warned for a year now about the new meter roll-out plan. Apart from this chaos there is the financial implication on the city. We are paying TUMS more than R4 million every day and it was supposed to cost nothing,” he told the meeting.
Several remarks of residents had to do with the fact that they are paying more now with the smart meters than what they previously did. Van der Wald remarked it is illegal and if proof of this can be given, TUMS must answer to it. Muller wanted to know when the system will be rolled out in Hammanskraal, Mamelodi and Soshanguve. According to Phubi Mabotja, “this is not on the cards.”
Don du Plessis, a resident, said: “In terms of your planning and roll-out, it is a shamble. In terms of your system, it hasn’t been tested. It hasn’t been designed for this type of use, you haven’t taken all the worst case scenarios into account. Now you say with a bunch of excuses that it is everybody else’s fault that the system is not working.”
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