Johannesburg Water outage
Parts of Johannesburg will experience a 14-hour and 10-hour shutdowns on Tuesday. Image: Unsplash

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Johannesburg Water to switch to prepaid smart meters

Johannesburg Water has announced that it will be switching its billing from open mode to the new prepaid smart meters.

Johannesburg Water outage
Parts of Johannesburg will experience a 14-hour and 10-hour shutdowns on Tuesday. Image: Unsplash

Johannesburg Water has announced that it will be switching its billing from open mode to the new prepaid smart meters in Cosmo City from Wednesday, 1 November.

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JOHANNESBURG WATER ENGAGES THE COMMUNITY

This after the conclusion of consultation processes with ward councillors and the community about educating them on the new system.

“The consultation encompassed educating residents on various issues, including the benefits of the new prepaid smart meters, where and how to purchase water, the importance of paying for services, as well as the Expanded Social Package (ESP),” said Johannesburg Water.

WHAT IS A CUSTOMER INTERFACE UNIT (CIU)?

As such, Johannesburg Water is urging the residents of Ward 100 and Ward 114 to ensure that they all have a Customer Interface Unit (CIU). CIUs are displayed units that are installed inside houses and linked to prepaid water meters and are crucial for loading units when purchasing water credits.

“If customers have never received a CIU, a WhatsApp message should be sent to 064 083 4765. The message must contain the property owner’s name and surname, physical address of the property, meter and related contact details.

“The cost for replacing a lost CIU is R790. Please visit the Johannesburg Water site camp on Massachusetts Crescent Cosmo City Ext 0,” Johannesburg Water detailed.

“The refusal of switching to prepared smart meters will lead to Level 3 water cuts and residents will then have to pay to be reconnected,” the entity warned.

DA STANDS WITH RESIDENTS AGAINST SMART METERS

Meanwhile, the DA recently called for proper public engagement on Eskom’s multi-billion rand smart meter programme.

This follows the DA’s recognition of the concerns and lack of trust among the South African public regarding Eskom’s proposed R16 billion smart meter installation program.