The eThekwini Municipality prepaid water and electricity meter crisis continues with growing installation backlogs blamed on budgets, stock, and vehicles.
The municipality's DA deputy leader and Ward 50 councillor Lyndal Singh said thousands of residents have been stranded without meters for over two years, adding that the crisis stems from a lack of available stock and the absence of an active supplier contract.
Singh said that consumers paid for these prepaid electricity meters and the city received the payments, issuing receipts to confirm the transaction.
In a written response to Singh’s questions, at a council meeting on Monday, the municipality stated that it had received 28 224 applications for electricity meters between January 2023 and March 1, 2025. It added that it had fitted 35 149 prepaid meters during the same time period.
Currently, the municipality stated that it has no electricity meters in stock. The number of applicants waiting for fitting are:
- 6 months - 1 492
- 12 months - 1 255
- 18 months - 998
- 24 months - 699
- 24+ months - 1 040
According to the municipality, it had 6 000 water meters in stock, and installing straight pipes was a temporary solution to supply water if a meter was unavailable. Until a meter is installed, bills are estimated based on previous consumption.
Over three years have passed since the city last installed straight-throughs.
According to the municipality, the city is addressing some straight-throughs through different initiatives because they are illegal connections.
However, it has a backlog of about 30 000 water meter replacement programme (meter maintenance).
The municipality stated that if it had a budget and sufficient vehicles, it would not have a backlog. Meters malfunction daily and there is no guarantee that every customer will always have a functioning one, it added.
Singh said priority must be given to the oldest cases, particularly those waiting longer than 24 months, calling for the procurement process to be expedited.
“The city has failed to secure a reliable supply of prepaid meters, leaving residents at the mercy of inaccurate and inflated estimated bills. It is alleged that the current supplier has not been paid. Despite the prolonged crisis, no officials from the Electricity Unit or Supply Chain Management have been held responsible for this failure. We will not rest until this backlog is resolved and those responsible are held to account,” Singh said.
eThekwini Ward 13 councillor Rajen Maharaj stated that Mariannridge residents have paid for the installation of prepaid electricity meters as far back as December 2023.
In response to Maharaj, the municipality stated that there has been an increasing demand for prepaid meters over the years and unfortunately, the demand has outstripped the supply.
The municipality said that a procurement process is at an advanced stage and the evaluation report for the purchase of meters is scheduled to be tabled at the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC).
According to the municipality, they were investigating the possibility of redistributing teams from several departments, such as faults, revenue protection, depots, and meter engineering, in order to expedite installations and take proactive measures to address the backlog.
After stock is received, the objective is to handle any outstanding prepaid meter changeover applications within six months.
In five years, the eThekwini Water and Sanitation intends to replace 160 000 water meters at a cost of R1.1 billion. Additionally, R2.6 billion will be spent over five years to replace 890 kilometres of water pipes. Over the next five years, the EWS plans to invest R15 billion in capital expenditures (CapEx).