The municipality’s newest venture to install smart meters in eMalahleni is not welcomed with open arms.

Residents complain that they cannot purchase electricity; they have to walk over to the distribution boxes for the meters to ‘read’ the necessary information before the correct units can be displayed, the support desk is never available and some said the meters ‘gobble’ up more units than the previous meters.

The DA started a petition to stop the installation of the new smart meters until public participation is done properly introducing the meters and the customer support desk is set up properly.

“We demand that the installation of new smart meters stopped until there is an effective 24-hour back up and support desk, all allegations of excessive usage of electricity on the smart meters be investigated and refunded paid to the affected residents,” said the chairman of the DA constituency in Emalahleni, Mr Clive Hatch.

WITBANK NEWS invited the mayor to give more clarity about the smart meters and other service delivery issues in eMalahleni.

For more about the petition, click here.

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