Thousands saved, thank you

Illuminated from Auckland Park writes:

I live in Auckland Park and was overjoyed approximately two weeks ago when I saw City Power installing ABC-cables in our power- problem-plagued street.

ABC-cables, I thought, would ensure that we no longer suffered from frequent shortages and outages. Of course, Murphy’s Law happened and the installation of the cable triggered an electrical problem in my house. The power tripped, and never came back on again. I tried everything I could – switched off and plugged out all of my appliances; turned all the switches off; checked the outside meter to see if it was receiving power – it was. Logic – at least my logic – dictated that it was probably an internal fault (I am no electrician, but that’s what it seemed like to me) but I stubbornly clung to the idea that my power loss must have been connected to the installation of the cable. Why was my electricity fine before the cables were installed, right?

I repeatedly logged calls on Citypower.mobi – at first they were tagged as ‘resolved’ when they most definitely were not.

I spent a week in darkness and then blessedly, one late night when I was returning home I saw an electricity truck outside my home.

The three technicians from JAR Electrical (one of the City Power contractors) were very friendly and courteous and spent an hour fiddling with the outside cables; then came inside to check my electricity box, and then politely informed me that it was an internal problem, and something an electrician had to handle. I think they saw my despondent face, because one of the guys asked how long I’d been without power.

“A week,” I said.

They turned to leave, and I turned to go back into my dark home.

Suddenly they turned back. “We’re going to help you,” one of them declared. “We’re going to fix this for you, no matter how long it takes. We can’t leave you like this.”

Those three men spent more than two hours testing and fiddling and doing interesting things with the electricity box, then checked the outside meter, and then the cables again, and repeat.

And then voila, there was suddenly light.

They were not obligated to fix the internal fault that had occurred in my home, but they did. They went above and beyond, they saved me possibly thousands of Rands and I’m writing this letter to say thank you to Edison Maleka, Shadreck Mugabe and Sam Mokoena.

Thank you JAR Electrical. You brought light into my life.

Editor’s note: Letter published unedited.