Ed’s note | Upgrading municipal service delivery in South Africa

By Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl - July 24, 2024

Powering up municipal service delivery in South Africa is about to scale as the focus turns to innovative utility management solutions.

The main driver is the RT29 tender—a groundbreaking government-led transversal contract. The RT29 aims to secure a new era of efficient and effective procurement to address the country’s pressing utility service challenges.

South African municipalities face a dual challenge: ensuring financial stability and delivering quality community services. Smart prepaid metering offers a powerful solution for electricity and water delivery, empowering municipalities and consumers alike.

Municipal Metering: From Smart Meter to Service Excellence is the title of our free-to-attend webinar that unpacks the why, what and how of smart metering.

For instance, traditional post-paid metering often struggles with revenue collection due to meter tampering and billing disputes. Smart prepaid meters bridge this gap by providing a pay-as-you-go system. Consumers top up their accounts electronically or via vendors, eliminating billing delays and ensuring a steady cash flow for municipalities.

An often-overlooked opportunity is how more information and actionable notifications can be inferred from smart meter data.

Overlooked municipal service delivery opportunities

Worldwide, utilities have started installing smart metering, primarily for asset health monitoring, load forecasting, outage information and meter billing readings. But there is more to gain than these benefits.

An often-overlooked opportunity is how more information and actionable notifications can be inferred from smart meter data. Augmenting the smart meter’s app notifications will build trust and engagement between the utility and the end user. These benefits are invaluable and will justify the cost of the project.

Then, there is a need to address these concerns, namely:

• the significant variation and unpredictable demand curve,
• power reliability,
• minimising accidents and consequential damages,
• improving commercial performance and
• preventing revenue leakage.

These are central issues and objectives for utilities and municipalities alike.

Eskom’s 2022 rollout of smart prepaid electricity meters in Soweto and its surrounds exemplifies the benefits of smart metering. The national utility installed more than 40,000 split prepaid meters in the area, which improved revenue collection by R33.63 million.

The advanced meters boast tamper detection features, significantly reducing energy theft. This translates to a more reliable revenue stream for Eskom, which can then be used to invest in grid maintenance and service upgrades.

The advantages extend beyond finances

Smart meters provide consumers with real-time consumption data. This empowers them to track their usage and identify areas for conservation. Municipalities can leverage this data to launch targeted water- and energy-saving initiatives.

For instance, a municipality can offer rebates to consumers who reduce their consumption during times of water shortages or peak power-use hours. This not only benefits the environment but also reduces strain on the power and water networks, leading to fewer outages and improved service delivery.

Accurate and timely data is also crucial for effective demand management. Municipalities can make informed decisions by leveraging data-driven insights, pinpointing inefficiencies, tracking consumption trends, and identifying opportunities.

It is smart metering that delivers real-time, detailed data on usage patterns, simplifying the demand management process and enabling municipalities to make better-informed asset maintenance and new infrastructure decisions.

In his February 2024 budget speech, the finance minister highlighted the importance of metering. He announced a two billion rand allocation to fund the deployment of prepaid smarter electricity meters. The rollout over the medium term would be to municipalities approved for debt relief.

The National Treasury’s backing highlights the potential of smart prepaid metering to transform South Africa’s utility service delivery landscape.

Over the years, municipalities have sought to implement alternative revenue streams and reinvent their business models—driven by market changes, including private distributed energy players entering the fray—but one thing remains the goal: service delivery.

Metering, specifically smart metering, is the perfect tool to deliver this. By embracing this technology, municipalities can achieve financial stability, empower consumers, and ultimately deliver a more reliable and sustainable electricity and water supply.

Now join the conversation: Watch this interview on the Green City Action Plan for the City of Ekurhuleni and the City of Cape Town in South Africa.