Prepaid electricity on the cards
RNM said it was convinced that the new smart metering system would benefit both the municipality and consumers.
A “smarter and better” electricity meter system could be rolled out sooner rather than later, following an audit on the current conventional metering system used by Ray Nkonyeni Municipality.
On Tuesday this week, council agreed to forge ahead with plans to consider implementing what they called “smart prepaid metered electricity” after a meter audit report revealed that the current conventional meters are old, obsolete, faulty and prone to tampering and illegal connections.
ALSO READ : R1-bn Ray Nkonyeni Municipality budget approved
Other challenges identified included estimated meter readings, unregistered meters and a high disconnection rate due to non-payment which has cost the municipality dearly in revenue.
Council said it was convinced that by implementing this new smart metering system, both the municipality and consumers would benefit.
The plan adopted by council included:
* Developing new prepaid electricity tariffs;
* Submitting to the National Energy Regulator SA (NERSA) applications for new prepaid tariffs;
* Conducting comparisons of municipal hosted vs outsourced prepaid vending systems in order to determine total project costs and budget required for procurement of hardware, software applications and cost implications;
* Developing information and awareness campaigns to convert electricity consumers to a prepaid metering system.
* Project implementation to consumers, including the procurement and installation of prepaid vending and meter systems.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
To receive our FREE email newsletter, click HERE
