Smart meter installations are expected to begin again in Emfuleni within weeks after an intensive consultation and public participation process – still in the pipeline at present – by service provider BXC SA and the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM).
The entire process will be conducted with maximum transparency and consultation with all stakeholders involved, Project Manager Dawid Dirks informed a meeting of business and ratepayers organisations on Tuesday at BXC’s Vanderbijlpark headquarters.
Installations are expected to include new hi-tech smart water meters which eliminate estimations and paper-based billing, as for their electricity counterparts, and will thus plus consumers in charge of their own account management and pre-paid smart meter purchases.
A whistle-blower campaign will also be launched to combat meter by-passes, illegal connections and infrastructure vandalism in areas where new smart meter installations take place, with appropriate involvement of both business, community and other stakeholders.
No areas or dates for new smart meter installations have yet been announced however, as these require a public participation process before moving ahead, with a date still to be announced by the ELM Speaker’s Office.
It is a requirement of the National Treasury Debt Relief Programme that ELM intensify its smart meter roll-out to fight corruption and increase its revenue – Treasury is already paying for ELM’s Eskom debt now estimated at about R5 billion.
New water smart meters will also prevent the costs of huge water losses – estimated up to 60% of all potable water – from bad Rand Water and ELM infrastructure from being passed to consumers as thumb-such estimations, as is also done with paper-based electricity billing.
Delegations from the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc), Emfuleni Ratepayer’s Association (ERPA), Vaal Business Co-operation (VBC) and the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) attended the briefing.
ELM spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni also attended the briefing.
