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As South Africa marked 100 days without loadshedding, residents of Mangaung found little cause for celebration, grappling instead with numerous challenges and power interruptions from Centlec. The recent electricity tariff increase of 12.72%, effective from July 1st, compounds their frustrations, as it means paying more for an unreliable grid and inconsistent service delivery from Centlec.

On July 1st, residents encountered "arrears penalties" when purchasing electricity tokens through their retailer or banking app, which were related to tariff corrections. This caused panic among residents who mistakenly believed they were in arrears with other municipal taxes.

Centlec shows little regard for residents' safety, as complaints received by the Democratic Alliance (DA) highlight neglected streetlights that remain unfixed for weeks, contributing to increased incidents of burglaries and road accidents at night. Of significant concern is the practice of leaving distribution substations open after maintenance, providing criminals with easy access to sabotage infrastructure by stealing fuses and power cables.

Residents who report streetlight issues or power interruptions to the Centlec call center receive a reference number. However, when residents or councillors follow up on these reference numbers a few days later, they often find that the issues have been closed without being resolved.

Residents find planned power interruptions unpredictable due to Centlec's practice of providing two potential dates for the outages. This uncertainty makes it challenging for residents to prepare for weekend interruptions, exacerbated by Centlec occasionally failing to adhere to the specified timeframes in their notices. Additionally, insufficient maintenance in certain areas can lead to intermittent interruptions or damage to infrastructure following repairs, further impacting residents' daily routines.

Centlec also embarked on the International Token Identifier Rollover at the end of May 2024. Residents were struggling with this rollover as some of the prepaid meters were old and needed replacement and if residents struggled there was no Single Point of Contact for assistance with the tokens. A concern for the DA is that Centlec only has 5 months left before 24 November when the 24-bit code tokens will no longer work. The Standard Transfer Specification Association (STSA) informed all customers 10 years ago of this rollover and prescribed that the TID rollover should be finalized a year before the due date.

Six months have passed since a new board was elected for Centlec. However, it appears that Mr. MC Mokitlane, the Chairperson of the Board, is facing challenges in guiding Centlec to effectively fulfill its mandate of providing reliable and affordable electricity distribution services while ensuring financial sustainability.

The DA calls on Mr. Mokitlane to prioritize the needs of Mangaung residents, who are the ones paying for services that are not being rendered. If improvements are not seen, the DA will take further action to address the board's performance to ensure better service delivery from Centlec.

Issued by Dirk Kotze - DA Councillor Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality