Drakenstein municipality mayor Stephen Korabie
The Drakenstein Municipality says it has completed the resetting of prepaid electricity meters.
However, some residents are still waiting for their turn.
The municipality covers Paarl, Wellington, Mbekweni, Gouda, Saron, Hermon and Simondium.
In a statement issued on Tuesday September 3, the municipality informed its customers that it had successfully completed their prepaid electricity meters’ formal auditing process.
Drakenstein Municipality spokesperson Riana Geldenhuys, said there are now only a few meters outstanding in the Drakenstein area, which the municipality has soft-locked as its meter auditors could not access these homes.
According to the statement, the municipality found that most of these homeowners live abroad and they will be assisted by the municipality to reset their prepaid meters upon their return to the country.
The resetting of electricity meters was necessary because as of November this year, the encryption key numbers will expire and failure by residents to reset these key numbers before the deadline in November, would have resulted in customers not able to buy electricity.
Paarl resident Edgar Petersen said while their meter in Klein Nederburg had been reset by council officials who visited the home, many other residents had commented on his Facebook page, EJ Breakingnews, that their meters have not yet been reset.
Yvonne Simpson, from New Orleans in Paarl, said no one has been at her home to reset the meter and Peter Kleinhans from Langvlei, Paarl, also says no one has reset his meter or sent him a message to notify him that his meter needs to be reset. Karel Dampies from Van Wyksvlei, Wellington, says his meter has also not yet been reset. While Raymond Fransman said the meters of homes in Rabiesdale, Paarl, were reset and another resident in Groenheuwel confirmed her meter was done.
In Mbekweni, proportional councillor Sindile Gravel said the majority of municipal meters in homes have not yet been reset. “Look the process is still in its initial phases in Mbekweni and at the majority of the houses it has not been done, but it’s happening now.”
He appealed to residents to allow municipal workers access to their properties. “I do know of some incidents where the workers were refused entry, people were not at home, or there were dogs and the safety of the municipal workers were threatened so the residents should allow the municipal workers to access their properties and enable the workers to check their meters making it much more easier for residents.”
The municipality warns though that the resetting process only applies to customers of municipal electricity and does not apply to those residents purchasing their prepaid electricity directly from Eskom.
Residents and customers of Eskom in Saron, Gouda and Hermon should contact Eskom for the resetting of their meters.
“The municipality started with this auditing process already in November 2019. We want to thank the community of Drakenstein for assisting us by granting our meter auditors access to their residences or businesses to inspect the effectiveness of their prepaid meters, and to reset them,” said Drakenstein mayor Stephen Korabie.
Drakenstein residents still in doubt about whether their prepaid meters are registered, or those with questions about the resetting of their municipal meters, can contact Charles Fortuin at 021 807 4538 or Riaan Brandt at 021 807 4887.
Eskom customers can go online for steps on how to recode their own prepaid meters. However, Eskom advises customers to be on the lookout for Eskom notices and media alerts on when their areas are ready for decoding.
Visit www.eskom.co.za/ for instructions or to watch an instructional video on how to recode your Eskom prepaid meter.
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