RESIDENTS are of the opinion that they are being milked when they need to pay for services not delivered, and now on top of that, the R10 fixed electricity charge is ruffling their feathers.
Referring to the article in last week’s RECORD (‘Extra R10 electricity charge causes a stir’, page 4) some residents complained that they actually paid a R20 fixed charged when purchasing electricity.
On a community WhatsApp group, concerns were voiced by more than one resident as to how much money EMM is actually making with this extra charge considering the thousands of households using pre-paid electricity.
There is also concern about the different amounts being charged – EMM stated a R10 tariff will be added, however, the RECORD is in possession of slips where a R20 fixed charged was added to the electricity purchase and another where R11.40 was charged as a fixed charge for the pre-paid electricity purchase.
One resident, in a letter to the RECORD, said that: “I am of the opinion that the explanation given by Themba Gadebe, EMM’s spokesperson, regarding the R10 fixed charge for electricity is extremely confusing and deliberately ambiguous, to say the least, and is not giving any reasonable clarification. There is also no mention of why there was no public participation on this issue which is a requirement.
“It seems that Mr Gadebe is laying the blame at the feet of residents who have installed solar power and he is insinuating that they are being subsidised by the residents who purchase power. This, in my opinion, is calculated misinformation.”
The resident further wrote: “I am aware that EMM is afraid of losing revenue if alternative power is used so this is a way of boosting their coffers.
“In last week’s article, the spokesperson states that ‘Installations of this kind (renewable energy) are able to leverage a pre-payment tariff.’ According to me, this statement has absolutely no meaning. An explanation might be a good idea Mr Gadebe!”
Alderman Bruna Haipel has previously voiced her concern and said that this fixed charge just slipped through. She further said that the increase for electricity would be 1.8 per cent and that there was never any mention of a fixed charged for prepaid meters.
The RECORD contacted EMM to comment but they did not reply to our requests by the time of going to print.
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