Cape Town - Eskom admitted it is experiencing problems with the supply of prepaid meters to homes in the Western Cape.
This follows claims that the utility has no meters in stock in some parts of the Cape, and that its manufacturing is at a standstill with an existing list of people without power for weeks.
This came to light after the Petersen family in Richwood complained of having no power since last Saturday.
According to Eskom technicians, the family’s power has been off because of a faulty prepaid meter which they could not replace due to prepaid-meter manufacturing problems.
With no power in their home for more than 10 days, Alexa Petersen and her disabled husband are at their wits’ end regarding the abysmal assistance they received from Eskom and the City after the technicians were unable to restore their power.
Alexa said they had to make alternative plans to cook and heat food, as well as store her husband’s medication.
She said her husband was recovering from surgery and this stress had delayed his recovery, while his medication, which needed to be refrigerated, had gone off.
“The Eskom technicians confirmed there are many households in Cape Town without power,” Alexa said.
In response to queries sent on Thursday, Eskom responded on Monday and did not deny that it was facing a shortage of materials needed to manufacture prepaid meters. The utility said it was attending to material challenges in its Cape coastal cluster.
“Eskom in the Cape coastal cluster acknowledges some delays in the delivery of materials required to complete certain projects. The matter is being attended to and is in the process of being resolved.”
Ward councillor for Bothasig, Edgemead, Burgundy Estate and Richwood, Miquette Temlett, reported the matter to Eskom and escalated it but has had no response.
“We are all very frustrated with Eskom and the kind of feedback we receive from them. As a large part of my ward is an Eskom supply area, whenever there is a fault, we struggle for days to get any response from Eskom,” she said.
The City said it had a sufficient supply of materials required for the replacement or maintenance of its metering infrastructure, and would approach Eskom for more information on Eskom’s supply areas.
It is important to note that Eskom supplies electricity to Richwood. Electricity supply and metering infrastructure for this area is the responsibility of Eskom, the City said.
Petersen learnt through an Eskom employee, who is an acquaintance, that more houses have been without power for weeks in Grabouw, as Eskom was unable to replace prepaid meters because of manufacturing issues.
Theewaterskloof Municipality confirmed that some houses were without power for weeks in Grabouw. It was reported to Eskom, with the details of the affected residents.