Municipality in Standerton gung-ho on installing new split meters
“To replace working meters of already-paying customers is fruitless and wasteful.”
The Lekwa Municipality will install new split meters in Standerton. The date for this project was given as January 18.
According to a document dated January 12, the project aims to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the billing process.
A meter audit is underway to change meters to the latest technology while improving revenue and reducing account queries.
According to Lekwa, the project will be implemented in phases, beginning with on-site visits to businesses and residents to gather information.
The community is requested to co-operate with the municipality.
The Standerton Advertiser sent a WhatsApp message to their communications officer, Thando Nkosi, on January 16, asking whether the remaining units on an old meter would be transferred to the new meter.
Nkosi replied in the affirmative.
The installation of split meters goes hand-in-hand with problems related to electricity theft.
Wilma Venter, the councillor from the Freedom Front Plus in Ward 10, said on January 19 that the municipality should focus on installing meters where they are bridged or not working.
“To replace working meters of already-paying customers is fruitless and wasteful,” Venter said.
She said consideration should be given to the April 1 increase in electricity prices by Eskom.
“If Lekwa does not take drastic steps to install meters at non-paying customers, replace bridged meters and remove illegal connections, our Eskom debt can be expected to only increase further.”
The national energy regulator, Nersa, approved an 18.65% electricity tariff increase for this year and a further 12.74% for next year.
The Standerton Advertiser published an article last September regarding the business community’s reservations about the strategy to collect revenue.
A resident calculated in the past that she usually spent between R1 500 to R2 000 monthly for pre-paid units, but her meter had been gobbling up double that amount since June 2021.
This came after an inspection at her residence and the installation of a new smart meter.
It is no secret that Lekwa has to contend with illegal connections in Standerton, the number of which can not be confirmed.
The newspaper was at a press briefing held in the council chamber during the tenure of the previous mayor, Linda Dhlamini. It was said then that some residents just waited for the electrical department to leave after doing an inspection, and the next day, it was back to business.
Johann Mettler, who served as an administrator, said in his Section 39 report that the biggest problem for the municipality was the availability of reliable electricity daily and energy security in the long term.
According to him, plans were in place to increase revenue collection through a data cleansing exercise and a targeted debt recovery coupled with the actual meter reading.
The feeling expressed by more than one local was that Lekwa would concentrate on the soft targets.
The Standerton Advertiser contacted the former communications manager of the municipality, Thobeka Mtshiselwa, via WhatsApp in August 2021 and posed, inter alia, this question:
“Is there any truth to the allegation that municipal employees are hesitant to tackle illegal connections in Sakhile?”
One self-proclaimed cynic said this past week that she seriously doubted that Lekwa would first tackle illegal connections.
