The City of Tshwane is making a call to action for customers with tampered prepaid electricity meters to take responsibility and settle their debts through new payment arrangements.

MMC for Finance Eugene Modise encourages the implicated customers to visit their municipal offices and make payment arrangements for the electricity tampering fee.

By owing up to their wrongdoings, Modise said, customers can avoid further penalties and potential legal action.

He said: “More than 108 727 of the City’s total fleet of 358 042 prepaid meters on the vending system has not been converted to Key Revision Number (KRN)-2. This effectively means that 30% of the City’s prepaid meters are not vending on KRN-2. These non-vending meters are either tampered with or bridged.”

He said that based on the figures, the City has decided on a payment arrangement offer for customers guilty of meter tampering to assist them with normalising their meters in line with KRN-2.

The municipality, he said, has decided to be more accommodating to customers who have tampered with their prepaid electricity meters.

Instead of paying the full R29 000 tampering fee upfront, customers will now be required to pay a R3 000 deposit.

This move, Modise said, aims to help customers who are struggling financially

“Customers must sign an acknowledgement of debt, and the remaining balance will then be paid monthly as per the arrangement that the customer made with Group Financial Services. Once a customer has finalised such an arrangement, the City’s technicians will visit the customer’s household or business premises to normalise or replace the meter,” he said.

To make payment arrangements, customers with tampered meters should visit the City’s credit control offices, where they will be expected to present their identity documents and the R3 000 deposit.

“The City of Tshwane appreciates those residents who have confessed to meter tampering and have now shown an interest to be responsible people,” he said.

Pretoria News

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