Emfuleni’s smart meter programme has reached a milestone of 5 000 installations, with expansion now focused on another Vanderbijlpark suburb in coming weeks.

The next installation area will be SE1 after installations were completed in SE7, service provider BXC has confirmed.

This was despite resistance to installations in SE 7, where Police and the Municipal By Law Unit was deployed to protect BXC installers over the past few weeks.

In addition to installations, BXC will also focus on IT network and infrastructure issues in SE 7, said BXC Project Manager Dawid Dirks.

Other stakeholders are also on board in the smart meter arena, including Eskom and Vodacom, but BXC will not install in any areas allocated to them by ELM.