Chaos is continuing unchecked in the installation of smart meters for prepaid electricity by a Tshwane metro contractor.
Residents have arrived home in some areas to find they have an installed prepaid meter, without any prior notification or information on how to register.
Some received an e-mail requesting them to register within 72 hours, otherwise their power would be cut. This after they have not received any information on how to register on the system.
These and other problems were raised at a recent meeting in Silver Lakes, attended by irate residents, officials of the contractor TUMS and metro officials.
Residents asked them what they were going to do about an array of problems experienced with the installation of the smart meters. A common complaint was that telephone calls to the call centre went unanswered.
Residents demanded personal cellphone numbers from the TUMS and metro officials in a bid to get satisfaction on their enquiries.
The TUMS representatives were unable to answer a single question from the residents. The two Tshwane officials, for their part, said TUMS was the responsible body as it had been given the installation contract.
Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Bronwynn Engelbrecht said: “It is totally unacceptable that a meeting is held with TUMS representatives and they are not able to answer a single question, showing total disdain towards the residents.”
Ward councillors of the eastern and Centurion suburbs reported the same problems as those in the Silver Lake Golf Estate. TUMS then undertook to report back on how some of these problems would be solved.
A promise was also made to give attention to a functional call centre. However, the call centre number provided is either not available or the call centre people cannot answer the questions by residents.
Examples of problems continuing unabated were rife.
To the dismay of Ashley Gardens resident PJ Odendaal of Matroosweg, his smart meter stopped working because it was not installed correctly by the metro’s technical team.
The problem was only fixed after his woes reached the ears of city manager Jason Ngobeni.
Dominic Kingsley of Menlo Park said the metro installed new meters in her street late last month, but the technicians messed up the meter number allocations. Meters were also placed in the wrong meter box.
“Logic would dictate that the new meter would go in exactly the same place as one’s old meter? Using this logic, the new meter number allocated to me on my online profile does not match the new meter installed in the same place as my old meter,” she said.
Engelbrecht said the DA would urge the metro to ensure that the installation of the prepaid meters is done in a cost efficient way.
It would insist on residents being informed timeously and correctly of the date of installation and being given all the necessary information to understand the new process.
The metro should also ensure that all residents were able to use the system, otherwise the roll-out should be terminated until such time that this undertaking was efficiently and effectively dealt with, Engelbrecht said.
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Read: Imminent switch of households to Smart Prepaid Electricity
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