Buffalo City Metro’s plan to introduce water and electricity smart meters to thousands of city households is on the cards again.
A council meeting on May 28 lifted the city’s almost two-year moratorium on the implementation of the controversial metering system.
This is despite the many challenges previously cited by residents when it was first introduced, including claims of inaccurate billing, which led to the moratorium on the ambitious multimillion-rand system.
However, at the recent council meeting, city manager Mxolisi Yawa pleaded with councillors to lift the ban, saying it “had presented a major obstacle to infrastructure modernisation and revenue enhancement”.
In his report to the council, Yawa said the city also faced the prospect of losing a National Treasury allocation of more than R78m to address its electricity challenges, including the rollout of the smart meters, if the moratorium was not lifted.
While metro spokesperson Bongani Fuzile did not respond to questions on Monday, in his council report Yawa said the issue of consultation with the public had since been addressed.
Councillors had also been informed and educated “on the functionality, explaining the benefits and the process of smart meters for both electricity and water services”.
Through the implementation of the city’s Thetha Nathi Campaign, “BCM successfully engaged with its consumers, educating them on the role and advantages of smart meters”.
“The efforts of the educational awareness programme were to emphasise the importance of accurate metering for fair billing and sustainable service delivery.
“Feedback received during the campaign indicates strong support and increasing demand from consumers for the installation of smart meters.”
Yawa said the R78m grant from the national government, specifically earmarked for investment in electricity infrastructure, was contingent upon the lifting of the moratorium.
The DA said it supported the installation of the meters but was concerned about monitoring.
DA councillor Geoff Walton said the benefits of the smart water meters included automatic reading of meters “which should, in theory, reduce the use of interim readings”.
“This will then enable customers to better control their usage through accurate accounts.
“There are other benefits for the municipality through more accurate billing and therefore revenue collection.
“There has, however, been resistance in some communities to the installation of smart water and electricity meters, and the municipality finds it difficult to enter those areas to read meters or do credit control as they are classified as no-go areas,” he said.
“This results in billing and revenue collection problems.”
But “billing queries continue to be a topic of discussion, meaning that ... the situation has not improved”.
If these matters were not dealt with, the city’s financial position was unlikely to improve substantially.
Black Business Forum president Luthando Bara cautiously welcomed the reintroduced plan, saying it was a step towards modernising service delivery and addressing the long-standing billing crisis that plagued the city.
“For years, the business community has consistently raised concerns about reliance on outdated and inefficient physical meter readings, which have been a significant contributor to widespread billing errors and financial strain on both residents and enterprises.
“We welcome any technological advancement that seeks to promote transparency, accuracy and accountability in municipal service delivery.
“If implemented correctly, smart meters will provide real-time consumption data, reduce disputes and enhance revenue collection integrity.”
But Bara cautioned that technology alone would not solve the underlying issues that had led to the current crisis, saying the success of the rollout would not depend only on the devices themselves, but also on the supporting policies, systems and the municipality's capacity to manage the transition effectively.
EFF councillor Mziyanda Hlekiso charged that the consultation process had been inadequate.
He was not confident the new meters would benefit ratepayers, saying that “the only people who will wrongly benefit, is BCM”.
The plan to have the meters was essentially good, but thorough testing and monitoring was necessary.
“I feel the city is not ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the solution would be to return to the old ways of having physical meter readers.”
On Monday, the DA’s Terence Fritz said not enough information on the planned rollout had been communicated to their committee or the council.
The advantage of this system, if properly monitored, would be more accurate billing and no reading errors, adding to the city’s revenue.
“We need more capacity to do it, and to do it right.”
The smart meter programme, which has already cost the city several hundred million to implement, has been heavily criticised by some people.
A Mdantsane resident who had a smart meter installed in early 2023 said: “Using this box is difficult because when the electricity runs out, I have to ask the people next door to plug it in for me because it shuts down.
“If that happens at night you wait till the next morning to ask the neighbour.
“It’s not like the old boxes we had — they were working fine, and I can’t understand why they changed them.”
Daily Dispatch
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