VEREENIGING – Vereeniging residents are expecting the installation of new meters from Emfuleni Local Municipality this week. This is after they staged a protest, halting services at the ELM Electrical depot in Duncanville. Residents spent almost two weeks without electricity.

Speaking to Ster North, Ward 15 Councillor Prudence Hlanyane said the electricity outage occurred on May 12, with only five households initially being affected.

“When this happened, I reported the matter to the municipality. When an electrician from the ELM came to fix the problem, the whole substation exploded, causing other streets to be without electricity supply as well.”

Three streets, including George, Stanley, and Senator Marks Avenue, were now affected by the outage. Hlanyane says they informed the ELM about the matter, but the municipality insisted that they would not fix the problem due to an influx of illegal connections in the area.

“The municipality said the residents should each pay a R10 000 penalty for tampering with municipal infrastructure, and they would be back billed for the period they consumed electricity without paying for it.”

However, the community refused to pay, stating that they had been asking the ELM to install new meters for years, and the municipality was just not coming to the party. They claim they had not tampered with the meters. Out of frustration, residents barricaded municipal gates with burning tyres.

On May 20, they camped outside the municipal premises through the night. To highlight their frustration, irate residents brought their stoves and pots and cooked right outside the municipal gates.

Arriving at the premises on May 21, angry residents had used their cars to barricade the entrance, and they continued to burn tyres. Scores of employees stood outside the entrance after they were denied access by angry residents. Residents said that they were suffering, having to bear the cold winter weather without electricity.

“We have elderly residents who are on oxygen. There are also school kids who have to get ready for school daily, even without electricity.”

According to Hlanyane, they reached an agreement on the installation of meters during an engagement where all affected stakeholders were represented.

“The agreement was that the first part of the process would be for the municipality to install meters and restore electricity. Issues of back-billing and penalties would be discussed thereafter,” she said.

Hlanyane reiterated that she would never advocate for non-payment of services.

ELM’s acting assistant manager for Media Relations, Chuchi Radebe, said the municipality is aware of electricity challenges affecting Vereeniging residents.

“Following extensive talks with the affected community and councillor Hlanyane, the meeting agreed on normalisation of the electricity supply system and back-billing. Work to install meters has commenced as per the agreement; replacement of the burnt mini-sub will follow soon after.”

“We want to put it on record that back-billing for unrecorded consumption is an established procedure and shall be implemented as mandated by policies and procedures of the municipality. We would like to take this opportunity to call on affected consumers to refrain from blockading our Duncanville depot, as this is disrupting the provision of service for other members of the public. Provided the blockading continues, ELM equally calls on the SAPS to contain the ill-behaviour as expected by arresting those who intimidate our workers and damage our property.”