FEATURE
Page 8 METRO ezasegagasini
24 June – 07 July 2022
EThekwini Electricity reinstates debt relief for customers As a caring City, eThekwini Municipality’s Electricity Department is reinstating a debt relief payment initiative. It will help indebted customers to pay their bill while still being supplied with electricity. Sibongakonke Mbatha reports.
B EING cognisant of the financial strain many consumers are under, the City’s Electricity Department is set to reintroduce its 80/20 and 50/50 debt relief to ease the burden on customers. The debt relief will start on 1 July 2022. The 80/20 and 50/50 debt relief is an initiative designed to create debt relief for the City’s electricity customers. When a customer purchases an electricity token, 20 percent of the purchase goes towards their outstanding debt while 80 percent goes to their electricity purchase. The same principle applies for customers who would choose the option of 50/50. The customer first needs to visit their nearest Customer Service Centre where they will make an application for the 80/20 or 50/50 debt relief. The applicant must be owner of the property, someone with power of attorney over the property, or anyone given proxy by landowner to participate in this type of agreement. For prepaid customers, the process only requires them to complete the application form which is then sent to the Electricity Unit’s planning section for costs. The unit’s finance section will need to verify
When you are a credit customer with an outstanding bill, you would first need to apply for a meter changeover because the City first needs to install a prepaid meter before activating the relief. However, since there is a changeover fee required, credit customers have the option to either pay the changeover fee or opt have those costs added to their existing debt to be recovered through the relief,” said Memela. He said the same process caters to small businesses that have credit meters. He explained that the unit will not be able to implement debt relief for bulk customers as the only available meters are prepaid. Their application for debt relief may force them to downgrade to a single-phase prepaid or three phase up to 100A supply. The 80/20 and 50/50 debt relief also aims to curb electricity theft while accumulating revenue for the City. “The City has a big challenge when it comes to customers who are unable to pay their electricity debt. Many resort to illegal connections which leaves infrastructure vulnerable to theft. However, this initiative gives customers power to have electricity while they pay off their debt,” added Memela.
The City’s Electricity Department has introduced a debt relief payment plan. Picture: SUPPLIED
outstanding debt on the customer’s account. Once the application has been processed, the customer is called in to sign an Acknowledgment of Debt contract. From there, the system starts recovering debt immediately. Customers with existing electricity debt of R500 or more qualify for this relief. When the relief was first introduced
almost ten years ago, it only catered for prepaid electricity customers. However, Revenue Protection Department’s Acting Senior Manager Thulebona Memela said this initiative returns with options for a wide range of customers. “The Municipality’s electricity debt relief has incorporated credit customers as well as small and medium businesses.
Growing youth employment for an inclusive and transformed society June is Youth Month, an opportune time to take our hats off to eThekwini’s youth for their achievements in all aspects of their lives including their professions and leadership skills. This year’s Youth Month theme is “Growing youth employment for an inclusive and transformed society”, a theme that fits perfectly with eThekwini Municipality as for years, we have been developing youth through Municipal programmes such as Assisted Education, mentorships, in-service training, internships, bursaries and of course, employment, to name a few.
NOKULUNGA ZUNGU Scooter Driver
MNOTHO NTOMBELA Principal Clerk
SARISHA OJAGEER Tariff Engineer
SAMKELO NJINJI Jazz Pianist
IT IS POSSIBLE MEET Nokulunga Zungu (32), a business owner from Lamontville.
MEET Mnotho Ntombela who has been with the Municipality
BRIGHT SPARK
LET THE MUSIC PLAY MEET Samkelo Njinji (30), a jazz pianist from uMlazi. Njinji is a protégé of the BAT Centre Music School, which receives a subsidy from
MEET Sarisha Ojageer (29), a Tariff Engineer in the Electricity Pricing and Marketing
for eight years. Mnotho started as an intern in the Ddministration Department of the Communications Unit. He has worked his way to the position of Principal Clerk. He is also a beneficiary of the Municipality’s Assisted Education programme. He has acquired a Post Graduate Diploma in Project Management to supplement the B.Tech in Office Administration and Technology that he received from the Durban University of Technology. He saw opportunities for growth and pursued a Masters Degree: Management Science in Administration and Information.
Nokulunga is one of the 200 beneficiaries of the Municipality’s Scooter Driver Training Programme which is run in partnership with Catalyx, Lularides, Ubereats and Vodacom. She obtained her learners license in March last year and thereafter enrolled in the driver training programme. Zungu commenced working in September 2021. She now owns her own scooter and has a partnership with Ubereats.
Department. The Municipality awarded her a bursary for her final year of study towards a BSC in Electronic Engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She has also completed an MSc in the same discipline. She is planning to study further in the field of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability through the Municipality’s Assisted Education Programme.
the Municipality. The young musician aims to heal people with his music. He has many proud moments in his music career, including featuring in concerts with jazz greats such as Melvin Peters, Nduduzo Makhathini, Bheki Mseleku and Maxwell Baloyi. In 2020 he started his own band called Njinji Sextet and they have featured in gigs such as Afro Bru, Sawubona Jams and Native Rebels.
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