New smart meter installations in these Emfuleni areas

However, key public meetings held within those wards are still expected to take place this coming week on Tuesday and Thursday to inform the public and stakeholders of technical and other details.

Actual installations are then expected to roll out simultaneously in SE2 (electricity smart meters) and SE 3 (water smart meters) in the coming weeks.

Smart meter service provider BXC SA will also hold a Smart Meter Open Day for SE2 and SE3 consumers only this coming Friday 16 August at their Head Office in 17 HF Verwoerd Street in Vanderbijlpark CW 2 from 10 00 till 19 00.

Sebokeng will also receive new water smart meter installations, but the exact site has not yet been announced.

Replacing old pre-paid meters with smart meters is mandatory for ELM in terms of both an ELM Council Resolution and the legal debt relief requirements of the National Treasury which has taken over the municipality’s originally R7 billion debt to Eskom.

Smart meters are also hugely beneficial to consumers who can then manage electricity (and in some cases also water) accounts and will also be freed from corruption-riddled and inflated municipal estimates on which the present paper-billing system is based.

Both smart meter public meetings expected this week will be chaired by DA Councillor Maureen Dosoudil, with the SE3 meeting also being presided by her in the absence of SE2 DA Councillor Edward von Bodenstein, who is on convalescence leave.

The first meeting will  take place on Tuesday 13 August at Suncrest High School in SE 2 at 16:00.

The second meeting will be on Thursday 15 August at Stone Haven at 16:00.

“BXC SA will also take extensive verification and integrity steps to ensure that criminal elements will be prevented from exploiting installations by infiltrating homes and businesses with stolen or misrepresented identification,” says BXC Project Manager Dawid Dirks.