City Power ready to roll out a process of installing prepaid electric meter boxes in Alexandra
ALEXANDRA – The issue of unplanned power outages due to overpopulation in the area will soon be a thing of the past, according to City Power's senior liaison officer.
The community of Ward 105 has told the City’s power utility officials to restore streets lights and sort out the issue of cable theft before installing new prepaid meter boxes in Tsutsumani.
The issue of illegal connections, vandalism, cable theft and ageing infrastructure has appeared to be a major challenge facing City Power.
The power utility held a consultative meeting with the community of Ward 105 at Skeen Primary School, Tsutsumani to prepare for a seemingly challenging winter season this year.
According to the senior liaison officer at City Power, Tshepo Chuene, the utility is preparing itself to roll out a process to instal prepaid meter boxes. He said the issue of unplanned power outages due to overpopulation will soon be a thing of the past in Alexandra.
Addressing scores of community members, Chuene told community members that the newly-built state-of-the-art Sebenza Substation will help the utility increase its capacity to keep up with the volume and keep lights on in the area.
He advised those renting back rooms in their homes to get themselves sub-meters from authorised independent energy service providers to connect their rooms.
Chuene said the utility will soon embark on an education drive to teach communities how to use electricity sparingly. He also announced that the utility will be ready to roll out and commence with the process of installing prepaid electric boxes in Tsutsumani and Alexandra by 4 March this year. However, the announcement did not sit well with the members of the community with some calling for the process to be scrapped.
Members of the community told City Power officials to first reinstall lights on the streets before commencing with meter boxes installation.
Ward 105 councillor Tefo Raphadu appealed to the members of the community to pay for electricity and other services so that the City will be able to improve its infrastructure. He warned residents who are building houses under high voltage powerlines of possible dangers and high possibilities of contracting cancer as time goes by.
Raphadu urged community members to be patriotic by reporting illegal connections and criminal activities to the police and City Power officials.
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