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eThekwini Municipality under fire for expensive smart meter purchases

eThekwini Municipality could be in hot water again for an apparent wasteful expenditure after procuring electricity smart meters from the highest bidders instead of the lowest.

In what sources have described as an attempt to avoid awarding the tender to a qualified supplier with the lowest quote, the city decided to buy smart meters from all seven suppliers at once.

The source said the only possible reason for this was that the officials wanted kickbacks from the highest bidders.

In May 2024, the National Treasury approved the RT29 national transversal for smart metering. The Treasury approved seven companies for the city to choose from when buying these smart meters.

In the purchase orders seen by Independent Media, the city purchased 2,000 smart meters from a particular supplier, which cost R2,591 per unit, whereas the other supplier’s unit price was R1,645.

One provider charged R2,218 per item, while the other charged R1,811. The city had to pay R5.9 million for 2,000 smart meters from the highest-priced supplier, which likewise had a unit price of R2,600.

The source said the city also ordered non-smart meters for R1,996 per unit, which totalled R4.5 million for 2,000 units. It is not clear why the city needed non-smart meters and which customers will be supplied with them, whereas others use smart meters.

According to the source, the distinction between smart and non-smart meters is that the former can be turned off by city officials from the office, while the latter require staff to travel to the location and disconnect in cases where customers have bypassed them or made illegal connections.

“This is another wasteful expenditure the city has incurred, and there is no valid reason why the officials chose to purchase the same product with the same quality from different suppliers with varying prices. Surely, there is something fishy,” said the source.

The city had not responded to the questions sent to its communications team on Wednesday.

The municipality has been in the headlines for incurring costs that many viewed as wasteful, emanating from the court cases the city had lost.

It was recently forced to pay a supplier more than R20 million, which was an interest that had accumulated from the court appeals it had finally lost. The supplier had initially demanded R30 million, which the city had disputed but lost the appeal.

Source: www.iol.co.za

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eThekwini Municipality under fire for expensive smart meter purchases

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