Rental Housing Tribunal gives their take on prepaid meters
Prepaid electricity meters put landlords and property managers in control of their tenant’s electricity. However, due to this, there have been many complaints from residents about landlords cutting their tenant’s electricity supply if they happen to have a disagreement. Wilbur Zungu, chairperson of the Rental Housing Tribunal laid down the law about what tenants should do when they find themselves in this scenario and what alternative approaches landlords should take when dealing with an unruly tenant.
MILLIONS of South Africans have switched to prepaid electricity meters which now play a vital role in expanding energy access to the poor. They also offer a technology-based method of ensuring electricity payments and providing a reliable and stable electricity supply. But what happens when tenants are denied electricity access by their landlords due to disagreements? Wilbur Zungu, chairperson of the Rental Housing Tribunal laid down the law about what tenants should do when they find themselves in this scenario and what alternative approaches landlords should
take when dealing with an unruly tenant.
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What is a prepaid electricity meter?
A smart meter is an advanced type of digital electricity meter that records when and how much electricity is consumed and deducts from the amount consumed from a prepaid balance loaded by the customer. The meters have these features and functions:
• Smart prepayment split metering solution is made up of the meter and the Customer Interface Unit (CIU).
• The meter and CIU communicate with each other remotely, enabling the CIU to display exactly what your electricity credit balance is.
• The smart meter allows you to view near real-time electricity usage over time and helps you manage your consumption.
• Smart prepaid meters are capable of two-way communication between the meter and Eskom. This enables Eskom to read information off the meter, detect power outages and meter tampering, and to send information to the meter, such as programming updates.
• Automated instructions are sent to the meter to interrupt the power supply when your prepaid account balance reaches zero, and to reconnect the supply once you have loaded credit.
Prepaid electricity meters put landlords and property managers in control of their tenant’s electricity. However, due to this, there have been many complaints from residents about landlords cutting their tenant’s electricity supply if they happen to have a disagreement.
The Berea Mail asked the Rental Housing Tribunal, a government organisation whose purpose is to assist the public with housing disputes, what a tenant should do if they find themselves in this position. The tribunal says that despite disputes, there are pros to prepaid electricity meters. “Prepaid electricity meters make it easier for the tenant to control the rate at which he/she uses electricity. It also helps the landlord; he/she is not faced with a huge municipal bill at the end of the month. Installing a prepaid electricity system may result in the landlord having no outstanding bills to pay to the municipality,” said the chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal Rental Housing Tribunal, Wilbur Zungu.
Zungu says the Rental Housing Tribunal often encounters landlords switching off electricity access through the prepaid meter due to unpaid housing rates. However, Zungu says a landlord restricting a tenant’s access to electricity due to a disagreement is against the law. “The restrictions may constitute an unfair practice as per section 20 (1) (a) of the Rental Housing Act which says ‘a landlord, who is obliged by the law, in terms of the express/implied terms of the lease, to provide services to a tenant, must:
(a) Provide such services;
(b) Not cause the non-supply or interrupted supply of a service to a dwelling without a Court Order.’
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The chairman says that tenants have a responsibility as well. “Tenants should make payment to the landlord for amounts due in respect of his/her rentals and approach the Rental Housing Tribunal for assistance if they encounter an issue with their landlord.”
“The landlord, too, can approach the Rental Housing Tribunal for assistance. If the landlord follows the due process by giving one calendar month’s notice for the tenant to vacate the premises or alternatively approaches the Rental Housing court for eviction, then the matter can be resolved by the landlord legally in order to help get the tenant to leave the property through this process,” said Zungu.
He adds that when a tenant purchases his/her tokens directly from the landlord, they run the risk of being charged extra. In this instance, the tenant is sometimes at the mercy of the landlord and is compelled to pay the overcharge in order to obtain the tokens for the electricity.
The solution to this is for tenants to purchase their own electricity. “Tenants can purchase their own recharge vouchers from a retail store like Pick ’n Pay or Checkers. And in some instances, they can purchase directly from the municipality.”
If you are having a dispute with your landlord or tenant regarding your prepaid electricity meter, contact the Rental Housing Tribunal for assistance or further information.
