Pinetown residents warn of electricity scam

ETHEKWINI Municipality has distanced itself from the actions of people who are posing as municipal contract workers to extort money from customers.

This comes after a Pinetown resident reported that he was contacted by a man who told him to pay R1 500 or their electricity will be disconnected.

Steven Ramdas said he received a call on Saturday, 19 June.

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This scam was also reported by a Durban North resident, Nicole van der Merwe, who owns a guesthouse.

Luckily her electricity was not cut off as she immediately notified her security company who rushed to her guesthouse and patrolled the area for hours.

Both Ramdas and van der Merwe said they would like to warn the public to not fall prey to the scam.

“We were not at home, a man by the name of David called stating that he has cut my electricity and if I paid him R1500 he will put it back on.

Ramdas said he refused to pay him the money and when his son returned home, he confirmed there was no electricity.

The homeowner then called the eThekwini Electricity Department to report what had happened.

To his surprise, Ramdas was told the City does not do any disconnections over the weekend.

“I called the man, David, back and I told him please reconnect otherwise there will repercussions for him. He still insisted that I pay the R1500 for reconnection. I refused,” said Ramdas who then called the electricity department again and they sent a technician out about three hours later to reconnect the electricity.

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According to the resident, he was notified that the people extorting money from customers were contractors that the city employed previously and they have the keys to the electrical boxes.

Msawakhe Mayisela, the City’s head of communications said the City will thoroughly investigate this matter with the assistance of law enforcement to establish if the mentioned incident occurred, and also investigate the allegation that former municipal contractors still have access to municipal resources.

He confirmed that the Municipality’s Revenue Protection Department does not conduct any disconnections over the weekend.

“Disconnections are only authorised to take place from the morning until 12:30 midday during the week. Under no circumstances is a customer given a call about any disconnection due to happen as customers are usually notified through their monthly bills that their accounts are in arrears and a date of disconnection,” said Mayisela.

He warned customers to be vigilant of these perpetrators and always request proper identification from anyone claiming to be a municipal employee before granting them access to their property.

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“We ask those who have fallen victim to this crime to report the incident at the nearest police station so that it can be investigated,” he said.

Residents are urged to report such incidents to the electricity call centre on 080 1313 111, SMS 083 700 0819, email custocare@ elec.durban.gov.za or call the South African Police Service on 10111.

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