- Lavender Hill residents are staging peaceful protests against rising electricity tariffs, which they believe are unfairly high due to alleged tampering accusations.
- Community members argue that the costs have become unbearable, particularly for pensioners and vulnerable households.
- The City maintains that meter tampering is illegal and that the tariffs are necessary for sustaining electricity services.
In protest against high electricity tariffs, Lavender Hill residents are taking to the streets in peaceful demonstrations to have their voices heard.
The protests, which are planned to continue throughout the week, were decided at a community meeting on Wednesday 21 August.
Organiser of the event, Mark Schrikker from the 7945 Action Group, said people are suffering with high electricity tariffs.
“Electricity is sky high and our people are suffering,” said Schrikker. “There are pensioners with their R2 100 who have electricity bills of R1 500 to R2 000 a month. Where is their money for food? What about the people who have the bare minimum?”
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Since last week, members of the 7945 Action Group have barred City contractors from installing or replacing any electricity meter boxes in the area as the rise in tariffs apparently stems from the change in meter boxes.
“There is a perception that what we are doing is illegal but it is not true.
said Schrikker. “No bakkies will be allowed in this area.”
Tampering accusations
Apostle Dorothy Soetwater (59), a Lavender Hill community leader on a disability grant, tells the People’s Post that she is waiting for the City to prove that there was tampering on her meter box, which she disputes.
“If you buy R100 electricity, you only receive R50 worth. They were supposed to come back to me and show me where we tampered with the electricity,” she said. “We are really struggling. My sister is a pensioner and I am on disability. If we buy R50 electricity today and then it is on zero again the next day. We can’t survive. I want answers. We can’t work for lights only.”
Meanwhile, Fatima Klein, whose mother is a pensioner, claims the City forced them to install a new electricity meter, which pushed up their electricity costs.
“We used to purchase R120 to R150 electricity and it would last a week. It has now gone up to using R150 a day,” said Klein. “We called our councillor and she said we had to give the City access to our electricity box and since then, we have been paying so much.”
She claims the City warned residents that their electricity would simply be cut if they didn’t have their meter boxes replaced.
“A letter from the City said if they don’t have access to the property, they will simply disconnect electricity,” said Klein. “There is a lady that has been without electricity for three months because she refused. Who can afford R150 electricity a day when people can’t afford bread.”
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According to resident Nasmie Jacobs, the City is accusing every resident of tampering with meter boxes, which is apparently not the case. “I contacted the Subcouncil manager and they sent us an email to say we had a faulty meter box,” he said. “So why are they penalising people for something they did not do and how do they come to the conclusion that you have tampered with the box? They are charging us for tampering when we never did.”
They are charging us for tampering when we never did.”
The City says it owns all the meters and the law requires that all households with its meters must give contractors reasonable access to check on suspected faulty meters or check irregular power usage.
Meter tampering
According to Mayco member for Energy Xanthea Limberg, there are currently more than 12 000 meters that have been established as having been tampered with.
“In addition, we have extensive subsidies already available to qualifying residents to help struggling households.”
Meter tampering occurs when a person interferes with the City’s electricity meter equipment to pay less for electricity or not at all.
“Thorough tampering investigations take place on an ongoing basis,” said Limberg. “When evidence of tampering is found, the City conducts a full investigation, which includes examining the resident’s electricity usage and purchase history, in detail, over a number of years.”
Limberg added that there has been a notable rise in prepaid meter tampering due to the growing cost of living crisis.
“It is our view that these incidents are linked to the growing cost of living crisis driven by unaffordable and unreasonable electricity tariff hikes proposed by Eskom and approved by the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) over the years,” said Limberg.
“Apart from offering subsidised electricity allocations to some of the largest numbers of qualifying residents in the country, we’ve also implemented a significant price reduction for larger families or vulnerable households who maintain a monthly average of 450 units on the highly subsidised Lifeline tariff. “In the last financial year, the City raised the number of units that could be bought by Lifeline customers on the cheaper tariff from 350 to up to 600 units a month.”
