Fanie Mthupha 3 minutes read
Electricity resellers must stop overcharging The CoE recognises the essential role played by the electricity vendors in reselling electricity to consumers in mainly sectional title properties, security estates, group housing developments and apartment buildings. However, overcharging practices are discouraged
Electricity supply by-laws prescribe that in incidences of bulk supply to properties described above, each purchaser be metered through a sub-meter approved by the SABS and the rate applicable per kWh unit must be in line with the tariffs of the city and not exceed the amount the purchaser would have paid if the purchaser was a direct consumer of the city. Report illegal connections or suspicion of these to the Ekurhuleni Call Centre on 086 054 3000.
Streetlight repairs
The metro received received 1 500 streetlight complaints in Benoni from the beginning of June to July 12 and these have been fixed. The work adds to the normal maintenance, which currently includes the replacement of high-pressure sodium globes with LED lights that have a longer lifespan and consume less energy. So far, over 5 000 lights and 301 high mast lights have been converted to LED in Benoni. Is load-shedding back?
Eskom and the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) have announced that load-shedding remains suspended, but Eskom has resumed ‘load reduction’ in areas that are directly supplied by the power utility, primarily to protect its assets, particularly transformers. ALSO READ: Eskom has not implemented load shedding since June 13
Overload issues are attributed to illegal connections, vandalism, meter tampering, unauthorised network operations, theft of network equipment and the purchase of electricity from unlicensed vendors.
Metro changes banks
The CoE changed its primary banker as of July 1 and assures residents that the new development will not affect its customers. The change aligns with the municipal supply chain management regulation that prescribes competitive bidding for procuring banking services. The service may not be for longer than five years. The changes do not affect customers and the municipal account the customers use for payment of services. The reference number provided on municipal statements allows the city to allocate money to the correct account. Finances
The newly appointed Ekurhuleni Finance MMC, Jongizizwe Dlabathi, said part of bringing financial stability and sustainability to the city is to encourage and foster the culture of paying for municipal services by all households and businesses. “While we expect that those who can service their full account must do so, we also understand that some may be unable to service the full current account. But those constrained must at least contribute to the payment of municipal services. “There must be no household in the city that passes a month without throwing at least something into the coffers,” he said. Incentive The city also plans to resuscitate some of the revenue enhancement programmes, including a consideration to give some incentive to the businesses that owe the city. According to Dlabathi, hundreds of top businesses owe the city a substantial amount of money.
“Part of the incentive that we can give to them is to offset the interest on the capital amount and allow them to pay us the capital amount through an arrangement.
“We are also considering giving further discounts to businesses that can pay us at least half of the money they owe (the capital minus the interest) upfront. “Another way of trying to meet those owing us halfway includes the consideration of conditional debt right off for the households whose balances are sitting on the days that are way above 120 days. Supply chain The MMC said the city will further deal with supply chain management and expenditure management.
“We are going to make sure that our supply chain management processes continue to mature and that they are compliant and prevent any instances of wasteful, irregular and fruitless expenditure,” said Dlabathi.
“We also want to tighten controls when it comes to the goods and services that we are procuring and confine these to matters that are essential for us to provide services. “In addition, we want to tighten the payment system so that we address the challenges of small businesses not being paid on time and will also address cash flow and contract management.” ALSO READ: WATCH: Dunga responds to surprise sacking as city’s finance MMC 
Fanie Mthupha 3 minutes read
