By Loushe Jordaan Gilbert
The City of Cape Town is requesting for Eskom in Western Cape not to permanently close its community service hubs.
Mayoral committee member for Energy, Beverley van Reenen said the permanent closure of service hubs without adequate measures in place for all communities will affect access to electricity services for many Cape Town residents.
“The city believes the permanent closure of service hubs could not only worsen the situation but also lead to public unrest and could have a negative impact on Eskom supplied customers,” she said.
Eskom provincial spokesperson Kyle Cookson has since refuted these claims, confirming the closure of only two traditional walk-in centres in Bellville and Khayelitsha – which are set to close at the end of June.
“Earlier in the week Eskom shared with its customers the exciting news that Eskom is improving its customer service experience by activating Pop-Up offices in its supply areas. By creating the Pop-Up offices, customers will no longer have to travel long distances to Eskom offices in Khayelitsha and Bellville. Not only does this ease the financial burden for many who use public transport, but it also means our customers no longer must brave bad weather element” he added.
Eskom also clarified that its customer service hubs in communities would not be affected, adding that pop-up customer service office facilities would be made available.
”It should be noted that Eskom’s Customer Network Centres (CNC) have not closed and remain fully operational and will continue to respond to network faults. Through these Pop-Up Offices, Eskom customer service agents will be active in the communities and closer to the customers’ doorstep, providing a more efficient service to its paying customers,” Cookson added.
