Amendments to tarrifs agreed on

PORT ALFRED RATEPAYERS and RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

A meeting was held on October 30 2024) between PARRA and officials from Ndlambe Municipality’s finance department. We were able to get concessions and/or consensus on some issues. The municipality has indicated that they intend to hold a meeting with the public on Friday November 22, 2024. More details to follow. Should there be a large number of attendees, there will be two sessions scheduled. PARRA has indicated that we anticipate two sessions will be needed. 

Here are the main points that were discussed: 

It was agreed that no proper public participation process was followed previously. In future, this will be rectified and a proper process will be followed. In terms of government legislation, public participation requires a four-step process:

• A clear definition SSEG is needed. Does SSEG include generators, standalone inverters and batteries (no panels), solar geysers, portable power stations, etc.? According to information available on https://www.sseg.org.za/, the definition of SSEG is: “Small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) refers to power generation installations less than or equal to 1MVA/1000kVA which are typically located on residential, commercial or industrial sites, and generated power is mainly for self-consumption. SSEG is in contrast to large-scale generation units that generate large amounts of power, typically in the multi-megawatt range, and are often pure generators (not for self-consumption)”  (see https://www.sseg.org.za/category/ameu-salga-resource-pack/ameu-salga-sseg-resource-pack/) 

• Ndlambe Municipality has indicated that ultimately all households must have a smart meter. This will assist the municipality with control of use, hopefully reducing the high spikes in consumption at peak times.  

• According to Ndlambe Municipaity, they have undercharged consumers for electricity. The new tariffs are intended to recover input costs, especially Eskom charges. 

• The cost to consumers of smart meters (R2 700) is for installation as well as the meter itself. However, the meter remains the property of the municipality, which has the responsibility to maintain the meters (and the lines), as well as to replace meters should they become defective. Meters have already been ordered and they are awaiting delivery. 

• No charges for registered SSEG clients will be levied until the meters are all installed and fully operational. The suppliers of the meters have been approached to provide video footage of the smart meters in use. This footage, which will clearly show the advantages of the system, will be made available to consumers.  

• The selling back of excess units to the municipality was discussed. PARRA indicated that some SSEG users may choose not to resell their excess units and this should be noted by the municipality. Many inverters are not designed to feed back into the grid.  

• The different rates for SSEG/non-SSEG/empty plots and off-grid users were explained. All infrastructure is available to that property, whether you choose to use it or not, it still must be maintained for future use. 

• • Some amendments to tariffs have been agreed and these are below:
    
  • The document from the municipality, with full answers to ratepayers and residents questions submitted, can be found on PARRA social media pages. The documents have also been sent to members. 
  • This article was first published in Talk of the Town, November 7, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.