City Power held an operation in Austin View on 30 April to remove all illegal connections on their networks.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the operation would be one of many.
He explained that many paying customers have experienced problems due to illegal connections that were being made in the area. These illegal connections overload the City Power electricity network and lead to frequent outages in the area. “It also vandalises our infrastructure which leads to City Power losing millions in lost revenue, the money that we could have actually been reinvesting in the electricity infrastructure in the city and other areas,” said Mangena.
“We decided to do this along with the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and the Rabie Ridge Police Station because of the volatility of the area. In the past, there were some threats that were made, a community member was also arrested for reconnecting electricity illegally.”
Rabie Ridge Police Station spokesperson, Sergeant Jacob Nhlongo, confirmed that a case was opened by City Power and the suspect was charged with tampering and damaging public infrastructure. Nhlongo said the 37-year-old suspect has appeared in the Tembisa Magistrates’ Court to answer to the charges laid against him.
With regards to curbing vandalism of public infrastructure where electricity is concerned, Mangena concluded that they would continue to host these operations. “We really appreciate the cooperation from the community, paying customers, who are our eyes and ears who have been fighting alongside City Power to ensure that they deal with this illegality in the area,” Mangena said.
Details: City Power 076 714 2014.
