‘Pay up or risk being cut off’ warns City Power

Customers should pay their electricity bills and ensure that their accounts are up to date or risk being disconnected from the grid, City Power has warned.

This comes after the utility cut off around 70 customers from Kensington along St George Street, Albertina Sisulu Street and the nearby surroundings on Tuesday.

Customers demanded electricity after they were cut off, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.

Tampering

“The customers had earlier stormed our Siemert Service Delivery Center demanding electricity after they were off for two days due to a vandalised transformer substation chamber.”

The Inner-City Service Delivery Centre (SDC) accompanied customers to investigate and audit their accounts, Mangena said.

“He found that they had bypassed the meters, illegally connected themselves and were not paying for electricity.  The customers were disconnected on the spot and penalties imposed on them. They will need to pay reconnection fees and penalties before we can reconnect them.”

ALSO READ: Billions owed to City Power as it ramps up revenue collection

Pay up

Customers must ensure their accounts are up to date before going to any depots to demand electricity, Mangena warned.

“We won’t hesitate to accompany any customer to their houses to audit their meters before restoring their electricity.  We have embarked on an aggressive revenue collection drive across the city, with customers in the Inner City owing Siemert Depot R3 billion.”

Hijacked buildings

Meanwhile, the occupants of a hijacked building in Doornfontein, Johannesburg, failed in their high court application against City Power to have their illegal electricity connection and other municipal services restored.

They took the City of Joburg to court demanding free electricity.

However, the High Court in Johannesburg ruled the City “has no obligation to provide municipal services to a hijacked building”.

City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava lauded the judgement and vowed to intensify the clampdown on buildings and businesses that are illegally connected to the City’s network and stealing electricity.

ALSO READ: Hail and storm damage cause widespread electricity outages in Joburg