Dark new year for some in Soweto as Eskom gets tough

It will be a dark new year for some Soweto residents whose power was cut off by Eskom due to illegal electricity connections and unpaid bills, as they struggle to get on the right side of the power utility, which has decided to get tough against defaulters.

Soweto receives its electricity directly from the utility, instead of Joburg’s City Power, and Eskom is owed R16.1 billion by Soweto residents.

Johannes Radebe, who lives in Protea Glen Extension 1, said his electricity was cut off in September after Eskom did a meter box audit on his house and discovered an illegal connection.

“This started in June when the cable that supplies our house was damaged and Eskom managed to fix it in September. However, after Eskom did an audit, they cut a cable connecting to my house and took the meter box because I was one of those who carried out an illegal connection,” said Radebe.

He explained that after his electricity was cut off, he was given a fine by Eskom which he managed to pay earlier this month in order to get his connection restored.

“I paid Eskom on December 15 the expected fine but, up until now I am still in darkness. This means that we’re going to enter the new year in the darkness,” he said.

Radebe said he had tried many times to report this to Eskom but said the Eskom office in Randfontein, which handled electricity issues in Protea Glen, was not helping them.

“We have even tried to involve the office of a councillor in extension 11 to assist us on three occasions, but still no one has come. They are telling us lies,” said Radebe.

He said some of his neighbours who paid their fines were reconnected within 48 hours after the installation of new meter boxes.

“I went to their offices twice, on December 6 and 9, and every time I am there they say that the technician will come to my house to install a new meter box, but no one has ever come and no call to say why they were not arriving,” he said.

Last month, The Citizen reported that Eskom had written off R3.6 billion of the spiralling debt owed by Soweto residents.

The Soweto write-off – of interest – took place in September, two months before the power utility threatened to cut power to municipalities in the Free State, including Bloemfontein, for debts of just on R2 billion or less.

Eskom also needs to secure funding of R46 billion in 2020 to keep the lights on.

Eskom spokesperson Dikatso Mothae said the power producer would continue to monitor and audit meter boxes in Soweto and those who did not comply by paying for their electricity would be cut off.

Motheo confirmed that the debt owed by Soweto residents still sat at R16 billion, which the power utility wanted to recover.

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