I am writing this letter because the power to our complex has been shut off and nobody will help us fix the situation.
The council dropped off a notice, saying they are switching off the power to the complex because of an unpaid deposit that is due.
They referred to some letter that they said was sent to us, which we nor the trustees ever received. Any documentation received is given to the trustees and sent to me to deal with, but that was never done.
They now switched the electricity to the complex off because they had no deposit on the account. This is outrageous, especially as they just cut the lights to the complex without prior warning.
I had to get a consultant to go to council to negotiate with them, I had no option but to pay R50 000 into the council account for the deposit or they would not budge.
As the complex has been up and running for the last 10 years, why do they ask for a deposit now? Why was this not done when the complex was built years ago?
They switched off five complexes in Meyersdal on Thursday, May 26.
I know what the council will do, they will refer all of us to the by-laws and say they are obliged to ask for an electrical deposit, but we pay thousands of Rands monthly and not once was the account in arrears – they refer to previous correspondence that they sent and only one of the five members of the body corporate received the letter.
For 10 years we have been diligently paying our account and they cut the lights not because the account was in arrears, but because no deposit reflected on the account.
I find this disgraceful.
Irate Alberton resident
Themba Gadebe, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) spokesperson, responds: “EMM is busy with a drive to identify users with insufficient deposits as per deposit schedule as adopted in the published 2015/16 electricity tariffs.
“The EMM’s electricity by-laws are clear on deposits and it states that the treasurer may at any time when the deposit or guarantee is found to be inadequate require the consumer to increase the deposit and may discontinue the supply if the consumer fails to furnish the required deposit amount within 30 days after being so required.
“EMM has disconnection contractors who are responsible for disconnections as instructed by the finance department and this is not an energy department disconnection.
For further clarity on this matter please refer to EMM’s Alberton finance department.”
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