Prepaid electricity meter billing explained

Adiscussion meeting called by Noel Stotter was held at the Golf Club on September 20 on the problems some businesses and private residents had experienced regarding the billing of prepaid electricity meters. Senior Ndlambe Local Municipality officials from the finance department attended, along with a variety of interested parties.

Ndlambe supply electricity to Port Alfred and Alexandria while the other areas are supplied by Eskom directly.

Ndlambe officials explained how and why the billing had changed for some businesses and residents.

The auditor general informed Ndlambe there were anomalies in some of the billing, especially in the case where a business had more than one prepaid meter and they were only paying the charge for one prepaid meter.

The current situation is that Ndlambe own the prepaid meters, they are installed and maintained by Ndlambe and this initial cost of installation is paid by the business/resident.

The business/resident has to pay to have an electrician connect the prepaid meters to the main electricity box (normally) outside the building.

Each installed prepaid meter is then liable for a cost each month of “electricity availability charges” which includes supply of electricity and maintenance of the infrastructure. Each prepaid meter is liable to be billed these monthly “electricity availability charges”.

If a business or resident has five prepaid meters they then have to pay the monthly levy for five meters. The current monthly “electricity availability charges” per meter are: Business R 540.47 excl Vat, and residents R 301.40 excl Vat. It was agreed at the meeting this was Ndlambe’s interpretation of the policy.

Ndlambe agreed that a committee should be formed (including Ndlambe LM finance department officials) to review the policy and ensure Ndlambe are interpreting the policy correctly.

During discussion it was also mentioned that consumers could purchase and have installed at their own cost submeters that would report the individual readings for each sub-meter from the single main meter. The “electricity availability charges” is the same for all Ndlambe consumers in Alexandria and Port Alfred (business or residential) whether they have prepaid meters or not.

We encourage all residents and ratepayers to join PARRA and help us hold the municipality accountable where it not performing and to commend it where it is performing. Membership forms can be found on our website (https://parra.org.za/) and we have made the joining process simple with an online payment system. Join us and be part of helping us work together to build a better Port Alfred.