City Power has begun replacing all faulty smart meters across Joburg.
The municipal entity conceded that 2 244 of the 30 344 smart meters installed for domestic use were problematic, and the replacement of these meters would be completed within the month.
According to the City Power, although the number of faulty meters was negligible, the utility was not underrating the problem.
“[City Power] has noted the concerns raised and is putting remedial measures in place to address these concerns and is expected to complete the work within a month,” its managing director Sicelo Xulu said.
“Customers have complained about incorrect billing, which is a result of units not being in sync with the City Power database due to poor network coverage.”
To this end, City Power was set to utilise mobile service providers to boost network coverage in the affected neighbourhoods, he said.
Where necessary, installation of signal boosters or a different communication protocol would be used as alternative technical solutions.
“This will go a long way towards addressing this challenge,” Xulu said.
To date, City Power has installed 42 344 meters, of which 30 344 were for domestic use.
According to City Power, 89.21 percent of the 30 344 domestic smart meters had actual, accurate readings extracted from them while only seven percent had problems.
Meanwhile, City Power planned to embark on an awareness drive to empower and educate residents on the new technology.
Further, to stop unauthorised access to the meters, City Power was re-installing the existing meters in protective structures that were tamper-proof.
The entity had also set up a call centre available on 087 022 0540, which was dedicated to smart meter related issues.
Issues regarding smart meters could also be emailed to smartmetersupport@citypower.co.za
