ELM: No-mercy smart meter bypass crackdown continues
As Emfuleni’s relentless no-mercy crackdown on smart meter bypassing continues through the Festive Season - targeting especially repeat offenders- the campaign continues to recover millions in fines and lost revenue for the local municipality.
By this week, smart meter service provider BXC working with the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) had identified about 119 bypasses by smart meter users and raked in a cool R2,4 million for municipal coffer in fines and lost revenues, said BXC.
Despite an R10 000 fine – which must be paid first before electricity is restored – for residential users, some consumers had opted to bypass their smart meters again – forgetting that bypassing a smart meter instantly alerts the BXC control center in Vanderbijlpark.
“Just don’t do it, we will come after you and you will receive another R10 000 fine for a bypassed residence and a R40 000 for a bypassed business and you will also pay for power stolen and damage done to infrastructure,” said BXC Project Manager Dawid Dirks.
The BXC anti-bypass campaign applies only to those with electricity BXC smart meters and not to those consumers with traditional pre-paid meters.
The BXC smart meter programme is a revenue spinner for ELM and thus far has over 3 000 smart meters installed with installations of BXC electricity and water smart meters under way in areas in Vanderbijlpark and also in Sebokeng.
The BXC smart meter system has advanced IT technology which not only allows consumers to track their consumption and payments, but also to immediately alert the control center when it is bypassed.
So far the anti-bypass campaign has netted 119 bypasses with 65 fines (including R40 000 fines for businesses which bypassed) totalling R1,5 million issued and total financial recovery now standing at R2,4 million.
