Lavender Hill residents irate about City's installation of new electricity meters

Residents from Lavender Hill, for the second consecutive day on Friday, protested against the installation of new electricity meters by the City of Cape Town.

The municipality started replacing electricity meters in City-supplied areas. Fuming residents claims the City failed to communicate with them before the installation of these meters.

However, the City said there was no difference in the way the new meters operated compared to the previous ones.

‘’The City notes the protest in Lavender Hill related to disputed electricity meter tampering incidents. In recent years, the City has seen a spike in meter tampering cases largely linked to soaring energy costs that are driving South Africa’s cost of living crisis, impacting all residents and especially vulnerable households. The City has among the highest levels of social support available among the metros to qualifying residents and often absorbs part of Eskom’s tariff hikes. It also has a large distribution of Free Basic Electricity grants and extensive help through the Lifeline tariff,’’ said Xanthea Limberg, MMC for Energy.

‘’In recent years, the City has observed a notable increase in prepaid meter tampering cases. It is our view that these incidents are linked to the growing cost of living crisis driven by unaffordable and unreasonable electricity tariff hikes proposed by Eskom and approved by the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) over the years. Just yesterday [Wednesday] Executive Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, wrote to Nersa, asking it to reject Eskom’s unconscionable 44% proposed electricity hike,’’ she added.

Meter tampering occurs when a person interferes with the City’s electricity meter equipment to pay less or not pay for electricity at all. According to Limberg, there are currently more than 12 000 meters that have been established as having been tampered with, setting up electricity theft.

‘’It is simply illegal and not sustainable for the City as income is essential to enable the City to provide these electricity services. In addition, we have extensive subsidies already available to qualifying residents to help struggling households. Approximately 30% of our customers receive Free Basic Electricity.’’

‘’Apart from offering subsidised electricity allocations to some of the largest numbers of qualifying residents in the country, we’ve also implemented a significant price reduction for larger families or vulnerable households who maintain a monthly average of 450 units on the highly subsidised Lifeline tariff. In the last financial year, the City raised the number of units that could be bought by Lifeline customers on the cheaper tariff from 350 to up to 600 units a month. Importantly, assistance is on offer, but the City must be mindful that help can only be provided in a sustainable manner, within the City’s available financial resources,’’ added Xanthea Limberg, Mayoral Committee Member for Energy.

‘’All electricity meters belong to the City of Cape Town and thus the law requires that all households with City meters must give the City and its contractors reasonable access to check on suspected faulty meters or check irregular power usage. Residents may not interfere with the City’s employees and contractors performing their official duties. It is illegal.’’

‘’Thorough tampering investigations take place on an ongoing basis. When evidence of tampering is found, the City conducts a full investigation, which includes examining the resident’s electricity usage and purchase history, in detail, over a number of years. If tampering is found, the resident also has a right to appeal,’’ concluded Limberg.

 

Done By: Mitchum George