Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality (MAP) says it is setting up a department of electricity to manage supplies to the eastern Free State municipality that has battled power cuts and a host of other related problems in recent years.

In addition to ensuring stable supplies, the new department will also install pre-paid meter boxes in 98 000 houses in the municipality to ensure smooth collection of revenue, said executive mayor Vusi Tshabalala.

About 185 qualified electrical engineers and auditors have been contracted to assist the municipality with the installation of equipment and with other related work.

Tshabalala said creation of the new energy arm is expected to be sanctioned by council at meeting this month-end.

“The new department is necessary and will help ensure stable electricity supplies,” said.

The municipality of more than 330 000 people is presently managing energy supplies to residents but does not have a full-fledged department staffed with engineers, technicians and other required skills to take full charge of the local grid.

MAP has previously outsourced electricity management to the Gauteng-based Rural Maintenance under a nearly R1-billion contract that would have seen the energy consultancy firm source electricity for the municipality and maintain the transmission network for the next 25 years.

However, Rural Maintenance pulled out of the deal in April this year allegedly following some contractual differences with the municipality and other related issues.

Tshabalala said the thinking in the municipality was that it should take over provision of electricity, adding that union leaders fear bringing in a private firm to manage the grid could comprise the jobs of municipal workers presently employed to manage supplies.

“Truth of the matter is outsourcing is not supported by our unions and it is also imperative that the municipality gets its house in order before considering such an option if it ever does that in the future,” the mayor said.

A member of the mayoral committee responsible for infrastructure development, Anziel Nhlapo, said they were already working on a turnaround strategy to be implemented by the new department once it has been established and that will see a permanent solution to the electricity supply problems the municipality has faced.

Nhlapo said under the strategy they were looking to stabilise over a three-month period supplies across the municipality, especially in the villages that fall under the local authority and were most affected by power cuts.

He said the municipality was also going to replace meter boxes installed by Rural Maintenance with council-owned ones.

The municipality would also work to stop illegal connections that have seen it lose millions of rands in potential earnings because some residents are using power without paying for it, he added.

“This is the way to go and I am confident that this process will yield the desired outcome for the municipality and the residents of Maluti-a-Phofung,” Nhlapo said.