City Power on drive to ‘normalise’ meters in Alexandra
City Power has announced that it is ready to start normalising meters across Alexandra to ensure residents pay for electricity.
The entity held several engagements with the councillors and the residents, with the majority of the residents indicating that they are willing to pay for electricity services.
"The normalisation programme will involve the auditing, replacement, and resetting of smart pre-paid meters across the township,” said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.
He said most of the meters in the township are bypassed, vandalised, bridged, or removed.
The entity says that all meters will be replaced for free.
"The TID (Token Identifier) entails that all the old meters will cease to accept the recharge vouchers in November next year, as the available numbers come to an end. Only reprogrammed or new TID-compliant smart meters will be compatible to accept the new units.
"The metering programme will start with the houses east of the Jukskei River from next week, with Far Eastbak, Eastbank, Westbank, and Tsutsumane - with 5000 meters available for the first batch of installations which will cover rezoned stands with double-storey flatlets and backyard rooms.
In the old Alexandra, the programme will, in the beginning, target businesses, including spaza shops and taverns.
"We have already engaged councillors in those wards, and they have compiled the list of businesses in their wards to be targeted for meter installations so that they pay for electricity. New network installation customers will be metered immediately to ensure the vending of electricity happens."
Currently, only four per cent of the residents of Alexandra pay for their electricity consumption.
"The entity has spent millions of rands repairing, maintaining, and replacing electricity infrastructure such as mini substations, transformers and cables that blew up and burnt or stolen in the township. The problems in the township are compounded by the rampant vandalism, cable theft, and illegal connections,” said Mangena.
"The mushrooming of backyard rooms has also exacerbated the situation as the demand way exceeded the available electricity capacity built for Alexandra.”
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