PEU Smart meters: City of Tshwane to decide on best way forward 

16 October 2017

The City of Tshwane is consulting with stakeholder departments and its legal team to decide on the continued implementation of smart electricity meters.

On Friday a full bench of the North Gauteng High Court overturned every aspect of the smart meter roll-out and implementation agreement between the City and PEU/TUMS, citing it as “constitutionally invalid”.

The Court further ordered that the City had 14 days to decide whether it wanted to keep the smart meter infrastructure, or not, and to make a submission of what a just and equitable remedy would entail.

It is a widely known fact that the smart meters contract offered little value for money to electricity consumers or the City, and that it placed a massive financial strain on the City’s revenue stream.

We do however have to consider the impact of our decision, and that we have contingency plans in place, depending on our submission and the Court’s subsequent decision.

To this end we have already established an internal task team of stakeholder departments to identify risks and opportunities, which will guide and inform our submission to the High Court.

Whichever way the City’s decision goes, it will be made to minimize the impact on the 13 000 consumers who already have smart meters, to ensure that any transitionary arrangements are made with zero interruption, and to safeguard the City’s revenue stream.

The City will communicate its decision in due course.

Issued by Samkelo Mgobozi, Spokesperson to the Mayor of Tshwane, 16 October 2017