Eskom to disconnect households in Soweto
During their presentation, Nomondo Masbuy of Eskom Diepkloof Customer Service, residents are required to pay R1.99 per unit of electricity and the cost may vary depending on the household usage.
Residents of Diepkloof convened a meeting with their councillors and Eskom representatives on March 16.
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The meeting which was held at the Diepkloof Community Hall saw residents raise their frustrations over the issue of illegal connections in the area and electricity disconnections by Eskom.
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Residents raised fingures at Eskom for their alleged incompetence.
As tension rose, residents argued that they want to pay a flat rate for electricity instead of prepaid.
Flat rate electricity refers to a “fixed price” energy tariff whereby the unit price for electricity does not change for the duration of the plan.
During her presentation, Nomondo Masbuy from the Eskom Diepkloof Customer Service Centre said residents are required to pay R1.99 per unit of electricity and the cost may vary depending on the household usage.
“We have residents who have connected illegally due to their outstanding debt with Eskom and this is a cause for concern since those who have been paying for electricity will now be affected by the upcoming disconnections,” Masbuy said.
Residents were requested to pay at least R100 per household to settle their debt for the execution of the electricity disconnections not to go forth.
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Residents were given an opportunity to engage with Eskom which resulted in some of them raising dissatisfaction on the issue of the dilapidated electricity infrastructure that is also not maintained by Eskom.
Ward 26 councillor, Sthembiso Mashinini said they invited National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to the meeting to respond to questions from residents and respond on the issue of the flat rate and prepaid electricity but they were disappointed by their response email stating that they will not make it to the meeting.
“As councillors, we find ourselves in compromising positions because now we have to speak on behalf of NERSA of which will not be enough for the residents since we do not have detailed information on issues of electricity and the fact that the required stakeholders do not show up to meeting when invited makes it worse,” councillor Mashinini said.
Ward 26 electricity coordinator, Mxolisi Mdluli said, “As the community is raising such frustrations over these issues it’s because a lot of us are unemployed and we cannot afford to pay for prepaid electricity.
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“This won’t be the first time they disconnect electricity for us, some areas were previously disconnected for eight months and we are asking ourselves as to how are we expected to live without electricity,” Mdluli said.
He added that residents are willing to work with Eskom and pay the debt; however they also require that the issue of the infrastructure is fixed.
“We have exposed electrical feeders which are a danger to the community and Eskom does not come to maintain or fix them. Some of us have been living in the area since we were born but we never saw Eskom maintain electrical infrastructure.”
Some residents have agreed to meet at Diepkloof Eskom Customer Service Centre to pay their debts by April 05.
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