As some residents are not satisfied with the manner in which City Power carried out the roll-out and installation of smart meters in suburbs like Struben’s Valley and Little Falls, the power utility is excited about the changes that these meters will bring, with positive benefits for residents and the power utility.
Click here to read more about residents and their complaints about smart meters.
Spokesperson for City Power Sydney Mphahlele elaborates that with the new meters, billing problems will be a thing of the past. “Smart meters can be read remotely from City Power back-end office and helps to achieve billing accuracy,” said Mphahlele. He added that the meters are able to send a signal to the power utility when customers tamper with it thereby enabling City Power to combat theft of electricity.
According to Mphahele, City Power can use smart meters to reduce extra load of electricity during peak hours as a way of mitigating the impact of load shedding.
He also mentioned that the meters can work either as a prepaid or post-paid meter.
As some residents were concerned on how they will be billed, he explained that the readings on the old meter were captured on a job card which will be sent to City of Johannesburg to be captured against the details of the new meter so that there is a correlation between the old meter and the new meter.
He said residents will be able to identify City Power smart meter installers in the following manner:
They wear City Power branded uniforms
● Have City Power identification cards which carry the following:
● The picture of the employee carrying the card
● Name and surname of the employee
● The employee staff number
He urged both business and domestic customers not to open to any individual who does not carry the identification stated above. Customers are advised to phone any of the Security Risk Management Control Room numbers or nearest police station in the event of the uncertainty concerning the individual requesting entry into their property.
Details: City Power anonymous tip-off number 0800 002 587;
Security Risk Management Control Room 011 490 7900.
