Residents in Tasbet Park Ext 1 and Tasbet Park Ext 3 allegedly removed the smart meters from kiosks yesterday.

This follows weeks of engagement with the Emalahleni Local Municipaliy where the residents are left frustrated and angered because they are not getting the answers they are looking from the entity.

The municipality’s response to the question of will the smart meters be removed because of the glitches is ‘no’.

The municipality was not prepared to answer residents on the smart meter issues todayhttps://t.co/e0FDDZVECi#WitbankNews #Witbank #Emalahleni #smartmeters #nationaltreasury

— WitbankNews (@WitbankN) March 14, 2025

Acting Executive Mayor of Emalahleni, Clr Busi Hlumbane said during a public meeting on March 20 said the municipality is looking for solutions for the smart meter debacle and will not be removing the meters.

She called it a work in progress.

@witbanknews The community in eMalahleni is furious with the municipality about the newly installed smart meters. #Emalahleni #Witbank #community #prepaid #smart #electricity #eskom #debt #anger ♬ original sound – witbanknews

The community turned up the volume and raised the frustration once again with the new technology that is clearly not working in the City of Coal.

Residents again demanded that the meters be removed.

Some of the complaints include the new meters using units while there are power interruptions.

The high consumption was raised again and Hlumbane said the municipality is busy with an investigation into the high consumption complaints.

The meters will be moved closer to the houses to address the connection error.

“A helpdesk was established where individual concerns and problems will be logged. The helpdesk is available from 07:30 to 22:00 during weekdays and 08:00 to 22:00 during weekends,” Hlumbane said.

Here are the municipality’s answers to issues raised by the community:

Q Why was the meters not rolled out in the Western side?
A The roll-out started in the Eastern side because of the high consumption of electricity.

Q Why is the meters gobbling up meters?
A This is under investigation according to the municipality.

Q Why is there an error code?
A The meters will be moved closer to the homes.

@witbanknews A meeting is held at the Emalahleni Local Municipality this morning. The issue on today’s agenda is the smart meters. The municipality invited stakeholders and representatives of wards to the meeting to discuss the issues residents encountered with the newly installed meters. #Witbanknews #emalahleni #Mpumalanga #municipality #Smartmeter #Fyp ♬ original sound – witbanknews

Breaking news at your fingertips … Follow WITBANK NEWS on our website, Facebook, Twitter,  Instagram or TikTok

Chat to us: info@witbanknews.co.za