Namaqualand residents in the Northern Cape are fuming over the local municipality’s failure to fix faulty electricity meter boxes. This has resulted in residents receiving free electricity. But now, the Nama Khoi Municipality wants residents to pay for the used electricity.
Affected residents say the cost of electricity is already exorbitant and they shouldn’t be punished for the municipality’s incompetence.
Bersig in Namaqualand is one of the areas affected by bridged meter boxes. Among those affected is Irene Fortuin who lives with her four children. Her meter box does not show any reading but she currently has electricity.
She is one of those who get free electricity and she is worried about how much she owes the municipality, especially because she occasionally bakes biscuits to earn a living.
Nama Khoi came to by-pass the electricity box, and it’s still by-passed. If I get an account of two, three or four thousand rand, I won’t be able to pay it, because this box is still not fixed. I am a baker, I just bake.”
Namaqualand residents angry over municipality’s failure to fix faulty electricity meter boxes:
Some residents are angry, saying it is unfair to be made to pay for the municipality’s mess.
“I have been experiencing this problem since last year, and I paid a lot for electricity. I went to report it at Nama Khoi, they told me the box is faulty. they came out and by-passed it.”
“I am concerned that we are paying for those people’s electricity because their electricity was by-passed since last year. And it’s concerning to me that I must pay other people’s electricity and their electricity is by-passed.”
Meanwhile, Nama Khoi Municipality says it is dealing with the matter. The municipality says it is in the process of replacing bridged meter boxes.
Municipal Mayor, Riaan Cloete did not give any deadlines on when bridged meter boxes will be replaced. However, he is adamant that all those receiving free electricity will eventually have to pay for it.
“No, they will pay, because what we do is we go back and calculate figures for you last six months before your box was bridged and then we will get a sum, an estimation.”
While the municipality battles to solve this problem, those receiving free electricity are worried that their debt at the municipality is piling up. -Reporting by Motlalepule Morake
