City Power is appealing to residents of Joburg suburbs to allow contractors to access their properties for meter reading and auditing.
The entity has faced a challenge of accessing residential properties to read meters in the past three months.
The major contributor to this challenge was due to criminals taking advantage of the situation by presenting themselves as City Power personnel or contractors.
The entity will initially do a reading to the customer’s meter for billing purpose. If the contractor fails to gain access to the property during the second visit, City Power will then send a notice advising the customer that access was not gained.
If the access is not gained for two consecutive months without a resident contacting the entity’s metering contact centre to make arrangements, then a disconnection notice will be issued.
City Power had also intensified its strict management processes on contractors to prevent corruption.
All meter reading contractors are issued with City Power identification cards which clearly display the contractor’s details and a picture.
These details can be verified by contacting the City Power Security Control Room on 011 490 7553/7504/7900/7911.
The entity’s director of Metering, Lerato Setshedi, said, “We want to ensure that we have data on a monthly basis so as to reduce instances where customers are estimated. A meter reading schedule has been distributed, which will show a suburb and a day on which readings will be taken so that customers can anticipate when the readings will be done.”
In terms of the Electricity Regulation Act no,4 of 2006, the Local Government Municipal Systems Act no, 32 of 2000, and The Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Electricity Bylaws, City Power may disconnect customers if electricity meters are inaccessible on two or more occasions to meter readers.
If residents fail to call the entity within 48 hours upon receipt of the notice electricity may be disconnected without further notice to residents. Customers will be liable for reconnection fees.
Details: City Power Metering Contact Centre, 011 490 7484; SMS 44074 or wmcqueries@citypower.co.za
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