City Power offers amnesty to customers
Tampering with electricity meters could land you in jail
Do you have an electricity meter that has been tampered with? Not sure how to rectify the situation? City Power wants to help you.
The entity is offering amnesty to its customers who have tampered with their electricity meters and urges them to use the opportunity to normalise them – free of charge.
Also Read: Tough cookies for electricity thieves
Meter-tampering constitutes fraud and may result in criminal charges. Meter-tampering can be defined as any action resulting in the breaking of a seal, the opening, adjustment or removal of a meter, bypassing a meter, opening of a meter box, or interfering with the meter or municipal wiring, piping or any other installations of any nature.
Meter-tampering includes the following:
• Bypassed meters
• Faulty meters
• Faulty keypads (customer interactive unit)
• No meter – the customer is connected directly to the power supply
• Stolen meters
• Illegally bought meters, either from technicians or contractors
• Meters that are connected illegally
“Customers found to have tampered with their meters after 30 June will be held liable for all costs, and no mercy will be shown,” said councillor Nico de Jager, the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Infrastructure and Environmental Services.
“Registering the tampered meter during the amnesty period helps the customer to avoid penalties such as reconnection fees and average monthly consumption charges accrued during the time the meter was not working. Once this is done, City Power technicians will come out to normalise the meters free of charge,” said Nico.
He added that this was the perfect opportunity to rectify wrongdoing, with no questions being asked. “Customers will literally be saving a minimum amount of R11 230 when registering their tampered meters. If they fail to do this, they will not only face criminal charges, but the payment of a considerable amount of money for the disconnection, removal and installation of a new meter,” he said.
The amnesty period will end on 30 June and affected customers are encouraged to register with City Power’s head office, situated at 40 Heronmere Road, Booysens or at their nearest customer service centre.
To register for amnesty, customers must bring the following documents:
• A CoJ rates and taxes statement (not older than three months)
• A copy of their green barcoded Identity Document
• Stand number
• Meter number
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
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