The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has ruled that an Eskom customer must be refunded following a dispute.
The customer in question is the Strathmore/Chamotte Mine in Mpumalanga. This mine has been forced to cut back production and as a result electricity consumption decreased as well.
Despite this increase the Energy Expert Coalition (ECCO) reports that Eskom management blamed the customer for meter tampering as well as meter failure given consumption readings were lower than the power utility’s estimated readings.
As a result the mine faced a bill of R1.1 million before interest and tax are taken into account. ECCO tells us the bill amounted to R1.5 million in total.
“Eskom then decided to declare the meter faulty and without informing the customer, replaced the device while adjusting the mine’s bill upwards by more than R1.5m,” the coalition said in a blog post.
Now in dire straits, the mine contacted energy adviser at ECCO, Ted Blom, who referred the dispute to Nersa which conducted consultations with Blom, Eskom and account holder Robin Greaves.
Speaking to Blom this morning the adviser told Hypertext that the meter was never even faulty to begin with.
“It turns out that the unit wasn’t actually faulty. They [Eskom] used that as an excuse to add R1.5 million to the invoice,” says Blom.
“What they did in their invoice is they ignored all the dips in consumption and worked the invoice only on high points,” he continued.
“If Eskom doesn’t take action I will institute a fraud case against them.”
Nersa’s report reflects this as well stating that Eskom could not explain how it arrived at the amount it did. Furthermore the utility admitted to using the incorrect constant which made the reconciliation of the amount inaccurate.
In light of this matter the ECCO has urged Eskom and municipal customers to scrutinise their bills.
“If network charges or fixed charges on the monthly electricity invoice exceeded 30 percent of consumption charges, the consumer is in all probability being ripped off,” says Blom.
Should you wish to dispute a bill you can request assistance from Blom and ECCO by following this link.
You can also find the ruling issued by Nersa here.
[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]
