About two months ago the Advertiser reported on the struggle residents in the suburb have to go through to load units onto the meters.
Piet Ellis, who resides in Cinderella, said that the meters battle to find signal – leaving residents literally in the dark, without any source of electricity, for a couple of days at a time.
Despite the fact that the technician has switched Ellis’s electricity to another phase, the problem is apparently still occurring.
“The meters simply do not want to load units. Nothing works – the meters are faulty,” said Ellis.
“The whole of Cinderella is struggling with the same problem; sometimes you’ll be lucky enough to load the units and sometimes not.”
Ellis has reported the problem to the Ekurhuleni Metro and received two reference numbers.
“We don’t, however, get any help from them (the EMM),” he said.
“I am at my wit’s end with the municipality.”
According to a reputable source, with knowledge of prepaid meters, there is nothing wrong with the meters, the problem lies with the way they communicate.
“Prepaid meters were first installed in Boksburg about 10 years ago and they have been giving problems from the time the first one was introduced,” the source said.
“The problem should have been resolved back then already in terms of prepaid meters in general.”
He added that the metro’s Department of Energy is mismanaged.
“Prepaid has grown immensely and there are not enough competent staff for this section.
“The energy department is spending lots of money and the ratepayer is getting hooked.”
