The Govan Mbeki Municipality mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma said residents must now begin to pay for the services that they consume.
Zuma said this after switching on a new mobile transformer that arrived on Saturday, July 3 following the old one being damaged.
The damaged mobile transformer left Ext. 4,9,12, 14 and 15 residents were without electricity in freezing weather for days.
The municipality took a decision to reconnect them back to the already overloaded Ext 5 sub-station.
This decision angered those residents who were left to receive electricity from the sub-station during the arrival of the mobile transformer last July.
Zuma urged residents to share the Ext 5 sub-station’s Notified Maximum Demand (NMD) in order to supply everyone with electricity.
After all the extensions were reconnected to the sub-station, many residents were without electricity for days because of the overloading of the sub-station which compelled the municipality to control the load to avoid an explosion.
Some community members said on social media that the municipality was lying about the damaged transformer and they suspected that Eskom removed it.
“Now that the new mobile transformer has arrived and everyone is receiving electricity, the community must start paying for the services that they consume.
“The municipality has started a programme of disconnecting all those who connected electricity illegally, and we visit businesses who don’t pay for municipality services,” said Zuma.
“The community should know that these transformers do not come for free, the municipality has to pay Eskom,” said Zuma.
