Further to the article, Witpoortjie resident left in the dark, I would also like to bring this matter to your attention and hopefully warn other residents.
I am a resident of Strubens Valley and on Monday, 27 March while at work, I received an SMS alert from ADT (my armed response service provider) that there was no electricity at my property. Initially, I suspected that my area might possibly be in the dark for some reason or another. When I got home at approximately 5:30pm, I realised that my house was the only one without power. So, naturally I went to check the meter box outside my property, only to be horrified at finding my pre-paid meter box missing or stolen. My neighbour’s similar meter was left untouched.
Upon my interaction with the City Power officials when I went to report my meter as being stolen, I was informed that there’s an increase especially in the Roodepoort area of stolen electricity meters. Most of my questions to the City Power officials were left unanswered but I suspect that the main reason my meter was stolen is because on 25 March, I loaded R700 worth of electricity credits and the thieves could have targeted my meter because there was sufficient credits worth stealing – otherwise why else would they leave my neighbour’s meter untouched when they had a window of opportunity to steal both at the time.
Warn your readers to be vigilant and on the lookout for this scourge in our community. If indeed there is an increase in such theft, kindly get City Power to advise on preventative measures and solutions, i.e. providing better security for the meter boxes (the boxes are their property after all, right?).
