The expected return of the BXCSA smart meter programme will also give a critical boost to Vaal investment confidence and service delivery by expanding ELM revenue, said the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC).
But resistance to renewed smart meter roll-out is still expected in several communities especially those with high concentrations of hijacked buildings and illegal connections or who have made billing deals with corrupt ELM officials.
Months of painstaking negotiations led by outgoing Executive Mayor Gift Moerane and smart meter provider BXCSA has led to a settlement in the record R499 million High Court default judgment granted against ELM late last year.
ELM Lead Administrator Gilberto Martins – a Provincial appointment who oversees service delivery and financial management at ELM – also participated closely in the negotiations for a settlement.
The settlement has already been approved by outgoing ELM council and both the details and comeback plan for BXCSA are expected to be embedded in a final court judgment settlement expected this week, Moerane confirmed.
“It was morally wrong for ELM to end this contract and was not only financial insanity but directly opposed to the public interest and that of ELM itself,” Moerane told Sedibeng Ster.
Moerane personally initiated settlement negotiations with BXCSA in the face of bitter opposition within ELM management which was only covering its incompetence and was spending vast sums on a hopeless legal case, said informed sources.
The illegal ending of the BXCSA contract – which saw hundreds of millions of Rand invested by the service provider to build critical infrastructure and install smart meters without payment – was ordered by then acting Municipal Manager Oupa Nkoane without any fall-back plan.
The cancellation in mid-2019 resulted in a wave of panic meter bridging by all communities and led to revenue losses estimated at well over R1 billion and huge damage to municipal infrastructure.
The replacement meter programme eventually launched by Nkoane to replace smart meters was a dismal failure and seen by many as an attempt to create another patronage network at ELM.
BXCSA has been widely praised for its handling of the ELM cancellation, especially because in the aftermath it continued for months at own expense with a skeleton staff in place to support the public and provide information when ELM failed to reach out to traumatised consumers.
“The return of smart meters means that business and residents, and ELM itself, can kick off 2022 with far more confidence but it still needs to be said that vastly increased levels of transparency , communication and public education must still be done throughout,” said GTCoC CEO Klippies Kritzinger.
