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Cape Town launches R165mil project to install 100 000 prepaid meters

Over the next five years, the City of Cape Town will spend R165 million installing prepaid meters to replace conventional post-paid methods.

This is a new phase in the city’s mission to introduce pre-paid power, which began in 2014.

The upgrade programme will be area-based, with every suburb in the city scheduled to benefit. The order in which areas benefit is determined based on the number of electricity meters in need of replacement.

A schedule for when the programme will reach each area is available on the city’s website. The upgrade will not cost residents anything and residents can pre-register on the city’s website for when the programme reaches their area.

Approximately 37 500 prepaid meters have already been rolled out in areas such as Wetton, Sun Valley, Muizenberg, Montana, Edgemead and Parow.

Residents who don’t want to wait for the programme to reach their area can upgrade immediately, however the cost of a new meter and installation (R3 100) will be recovered via the prepaid meter from 1st July.

Before the end of March, the programme is scheduled to roll out in Maitland, Diep River, Thornton, La Rochelle, Surrey Estate, Penlyn Estate, Andas Estate, Die Bos, Lochnerhof, Strand central, Van Reyneveld, Macassar Heritage Park, Durmont, Uitzicht, Durbanville Meadows, and Bloemhof.

“Eventually every customer in the city will be supplied via a prepaid meter, which will protect the service against bad debts. Because the operation and maintenance of the electricity service is funded through the electricity tariffs, if residents run up large bills that they are unable to pay, it means that there is a shortfall in the resources necessary to keep the service up and running,: said MMC for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services and Energy, Xanthea Limberg.

“Non-payment of electricity accounts was seen as one of the contributing factors to load-shedding in recent years. Our analysis shows that residents supplied via prepaid meters use an average of 10 – 15% less electricity due to the increased oversight provided by prepaid meters.”

How meters will be installed

The city explained that once the programme arrives in an area, an appointed contractor will do a mail-drop at each targeted customer’s address requesting that they make contact to set up an appointment at a time that is convenient to them.

Once the appointment has been made, a reference number will be generated. If residents have not received a mail-drop or are in any doubt as to whether this is a legitimate City project, they can contact the call centre on 0860 103 089.

“New prepaid meters are located outside on the street, with an in-house display provided inside the customer’s property. Locating the meter outside the premises allows the city to more easily access the meter and also to check whether there has been any tampering,” the city said.

 

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