Electricity woes for Randburg residents in 2015

Residents throughout the year struggled with their statement of accounts from the City of Joburg. Some were overcharged and some had problems getting a pensioner’s rebate from the power utility.

A pensioner (64) from Randpark Ridge Ext 4, lived in agony as her monthly municipal rates balance escalated. She believed the bills were inaccurate. Although the woman, who wished not to be named, qualified for rebates from the City of Joburg, her plight has affected her sorely as her electricity had been cut off a few times after she had failed to pay the exorbitant bill. She tried numerous times to arrange for her payment with City Power, but instead of receiving help, she was advised to renew her Expanded Social Package (ESP) and submit the form for a rebate. “I phoned City Power with my meter readings and was told to pay,” she said.

A Bordeaux resident complained about his account statements from City Power. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that workers from the entity came to his house in May and installed a smart meter that tracks his daily electricity usage. However, these readings did not reflect in his statement of account. The pensioner said that he limited his electricity usage, however he was receiving statements that said that he owed the City thousands of rands. The man said that he subsidised his electricity with a generator which he used to power his TV, fridge and laptop and has his meals delivered to him by Meals on Wheels.

Chairperson of Tehillah Body Corporate, Robert Prinsloo said he had been fighting an uphill battle with the City of Joburg. According to Prinsloo, he struggled to sort out the name on the Body Corporate’s monthly statements for over a year. He claimed that they had the same electricity account number for many years and the name of the account was always Tehillah Body Corporate, but for reasons unknown to him, the name on the invoices changed every month. He added that the stand number in Boskruin had always been the same and they never applied for a change of name. The City of Joburg, admitted that Prinsloo had written the City a letter on 27 June and requested for credit to be transferred from the old account into a new account. The City said that it had moved swiftly to transfer the credit from the old account into the new one.

The City of Joburg responded to claims made against it by an elderly Robindale man who would not be named. The man said he was shocked to discover a letter sent to him by the City claiming he was R42 000 in arrears on his statement of account with the City. Kgamanyane Maphologela, director of customer communications with the City, said the customer’s August statement reflected that the customer did not owe the City any money. “The customer was billed on estimates on his new smart meter, but since then the reversal was done on all the interim readings,” Maphologela said. However, the elderly man said that he was still waiting to receive his statement of account for August, and would only be happy once he saw it with his own eyes.

Suzan Gogotya (73) struggled to get pensioner’s rebates from the City of Joburg over the last three years.The maximum value of her property is valued at R1 190 000 and was registered as a Close Corporation [CC] back in 1990. She had only received rebates once in June last year. Her account had been in arrears and she only pays through arrangements since she could not afford to settle the entire bill. Despite the City’s rebates, Gogotya had struggled to fully change the property’s title deed to her name resulting in her not receiving any rebates from the City. Revenue and customer relations communications officer from the City of Joburg, Stan Maphologela, said it was the City’s policy to approve rebates for pensioners whose property was registered in their names. “It is the City’s policy to ensure that any customer applying for rebates are the rightful owners of the property,” Maphologela concluded.