Johannesburg - The lawyer representing homeowners from the Kensington Community Association (KCA), said he’s optimistic that the association can stop Egoli Gas’ plans to halt supply to the area.
Moray Hathorn, from the Legal Resources Centre, said while there are no guarantees he believes they have a strong case. Residents took the legal route after being informed that the gas supply to the area would be halted at the end of November. That decision has now been amended and the cut-off date has been extended to January 31, 2024. But it does appear that the termination will go ahead, come January 31. Hathorn said he is in the process of preparing court papers should it become necessary to file an urgent interdict against the cut-off.
“We will challenge the lawfulness of the privatisation of Egoli Gas, Equality of treatment and even the way the termination notices were communicated to the residents,” he said.
Residents from Kensington, Bezuidenhout Valley, Malvern and Betrams are up in arms as they will have to convert their entire homes, especially stoves and geysers, to electricity, with some saying it could cost up to R40 000, money they say they just don’t have.
“Where will they get the money from? Most of the residents are old and cannot afford these conversion costs,” Hathorn said.
Egoli Gas spokesperson, Sewela Makgolane said the company has offered customers an ex-gratia payment of R8 000 per household towards the costs of conversion.
“Where good cause is shown, we may, in limited situations, review this offer. Communication regarding this has been sent to all Egoli Gas customers in the affected areas,” she said.
She added that the decision to exit these areas is due to a significant external environmental factor, namely corrosive soil conditions, which have affected the integrity of low-pressure steel pipelines over the years.
“This has required Egoli Gas to regularly perform significant maintenance upkeep on its pipeline in this region. A natural and inevitable next step in the maintenance upkeep is to now replace the pipeline at a substantial cost, as the current pipeline, whilst still safe, is reaching the end of its useful life. The costs associated with replacing the pipeline are significant and run into hundreds of millions of rands and naturally constitutes a significant factor in our decision,” Sewela said.
The company said it is a stark reality that the future supply of natural gas to Egoli by their sole natural gas supplier is uncertain.
“Whilst we are doing all we can to extend our supply of natural gas, the offshore gas fields from which the natural gas is sourced have a finite lifespan. We are currently not guaranteed a future supply of gas by our current supplier beyond June 2026.
“As you will appreciate, in a market where our client base has dwindled from approximately 5 000 in 2005 to 500 at the present date, it is simply impossible for us to commit hundreds of millions of rands to an extremely small market, which is likely to reduce even further in the event of future increases in the cost of gas,” she said.
Egoli Gas also denied having completed upgrades in Melville and Waterfall Estate, which the residents claim, pits the poor against the rich.
“We would like to emphasise that our company does not have a presence in the Waterfall area. Furthermore, it's important to note that we have not conducted any infrastructure upgrades in the Melville area recently. The most recent pipeline replacements in that area took place in 2010. Given the uncertainty of the future supply of natural gas, we currently have no plans to extend our pipeline network and have not done so since 2016,” Sewela concluded.
The company's reasons for halting the supply offer very little consolation to residents, who recently held a community meeting to challenge the company’s decision.
Executive member of KCA Donovan Williams said a militant mood manifested itself, at the community meeting.
“We are increasing our determination to fight Egoli Gas rather than just roll over and accept their unilateral decision. I think people are particularly p*ssed off because it appears that Egoli Gas is focusing on upper income areas as their future customer base and slowing getting rid of their working class, lower middle class and middle class clients,” he said.
Another resident said: “We are done with them, because really, to tell me they want R20 000 to connect me to the gas line is ridiculous. It costs me about R700 a month for the bottles so screw them. First it was R2 500 for connection. Then it changed because I was the only one on the block who apparently was requesting services. And then, imagine, they tell me if I can round up another six people, they will revert to the original quote. They p*ssed me off royally.”
Another Kensington resident, Sinclair Hannie, said: “I am really upset by this. My main issue is the cost. It will cost R37 000 for the conversion and an additional R7 000 for two 48kg cylinders with gas. That’s a total of R44 000. It’s a massive unforeseen cost just to maintain my current standard of living.”
While no court application has been filed yet, Egoli Gas is pressing ahead with the termination and residents are getting ready for a legal battle with the company.