Malvern resident warns landlords of meter tampering
he eThekwini Municipality has warned people to refrain from tampering with electric meters as it is both dangerous and illegal.
A MALVERN resident has spoken out after she was scammed by a tenant who bypassed the prepaid meter and stole electricity from her for 18 months. The resident ended up paying R64 000 to eThekwini Municipality with the hope that it was an error that the City would rectify.
She said by reaching out to the Queensburgh News because she wishes to warn other landlords of the risks of having a prepaid meter and to urge others who have been through the situation to utilise the law.
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The resident said she was lucky that she had the means to take the matter to court, and she was confident that the law will take it course.
According to the resident, who wished to remain anonymous, she rented out her property, which is also in the Malvern area, on August 1, 2021.
She said the rental agreement was that both the electricity and water charges were for the account of the tenant.
“A prepaid electricity meter was installed at around August 2021. The prepaid meter was installed by a prepaid meter company.”
In March this year, the landlord said she contacted eThekwini Municipality to query the reason she had not received any billing for lights/water at the property she was renting out.
To her surprise, she was informed that the bill had accumulated to approximately R72 969.32 due to non-payment.
In April, the 47-year-old was informed by her tenant that the electricity had been disconnected.
“I visited the Sizakala Centre in Pinetown. I was informed that the bill was unpaid for approximately R72 969.32 which led to the electricity being disconnected. I paid R64 000 the following day with a belief that the billing was incorrect and required eThekwini to rectify the error,” she said.
The landlord said she contacted her tenant and asked him to provide proof of payment for the prepaid vouchers to submit to eThekwini as evidence as the City said there was an error on their part.
“He mentioned that no proof was kept of prepaid vouchers. He said all SMSs received for prepaid vouchers were deleted. He also mentioned that the vouchers were purchased from his banking app. Proof was requested in the form of bank statements reflecting the purchases of the prepaid vouchers.
“He refused to provide the bank statements, stating that they were personal. On April 18, I went to the property and noted that the prepaid meter reading was 49.64kw/h on my arrival – about half an hour later, the meter was again inspected. It remained at 49.64kw/h
“He was asked to switch on the microwave, and the meter still remained at 49.64kw/h. About an hour later, the tenant sent another reading which still reflected 49.64kw/h, considering that the household appliances were in use.”
The landlord took photographs of the meter and sent to them to an electrician.
“After examining the photograph, he informed me that the prepaid meter had been tampered with as it was connected directly to the main house meter. We called the prepaid meter company to obtain a consumption report for the prepaid meter which would indicate the prepaid electricity purchased by the tenant.
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“It was confirmed that he had not made any prepaid electricity purchases.
After investigated the matter, the complainant realised that the tenant had tampered with the prepaid meter and connected it directly to the main house meter.
“I opened a case at Malvern SAPS.”
The resident said she wanted the culprit to go to jail, but after a court meeting with the judge, the two parties settled. “The judge sanctioned the case.”
City warns against illegal connections
eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said the municipality would like to warn residents that illegal electricity connections are not only dangerous, but they cost the city millions of rand each year, making it difficult to ensure sustainability of supply and roll-out of service delivery.
“Customers who illegally connect themselves to our network leads to the electricity used not being metered, and this is tantamount to electricity theft. However, the eThekwini Municipality continues to develop and implement plans to increase the their capacity to collect revenue for services rendered, such as electricity,” said Sisilana.
In addition, she said the City mitigates this growing problem through continuing to fight illegal connections, bypassed meters and vandalism to infrastructure through Operation Khuculula and regular sweeps championed by the City’s Revenue Protection Branch.
“Illegal connections don’t just compromise our network but also puts people’s lives at risk,” she said.
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