How much it costs Eskom to collect a single electricity meter reading
Electricity meters are have long been a point of contention in South Africa, with numerous horror stories where meters were incorrectly tracked or incorrectly read.
With power provider Eskom now under close scrutiny for its massive expense bill, questions have also been raised over how much the state-owned enterprise is actually spending on reading these metres.
As part of a recent parliamentary questions and answers session,COPE’s Willie Madisha asked minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan how much it costs to send out a contractor to read one of these metres.
He also inquired how much the costs differ for residential, rural and business readings.
According to Gordhan, Eskom’s total costs for meter reading for the financial year 2016/17 was R70.4 million, and the costs for the current year, as at January 2018, is R60.7 million
“For small power users, which include urban households, rural households and farms, meters are read by meter reading contractors and rates are largely determined by accessibility, density and terrain,” Gordhan said.
The minister further broke down the costs which include:
- As at August 2017, the average cost to Eskom for meter reading per urban installation is R28.57.
- As at August 2017, the average cost to Eskom for meter reading per rural installation is R50.00.
- As at August 2017, the average cost to Eskom for meter reading per farm installation is R61.73.
Gordhan said that Eskom uses its own internal resources for meter reading at industrial customers.
“Where internal resources are not available, the cost for meter reading is R89.23 as at August 2017,” he said.
“The majority of industrial customers are read electronically, and half-hourly meter readings are obtained to ensure effective and accurate billing.”
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