City Power denies responsibility

City Power denies responsibility for damaging a Witpoortjie resident’s gate.

This after the Record reported that Johan van Rensburg’s gate was damaged by two City Power employees on 5 February when they attempted to grab Van Rensburg’s attention.

“On 5 February a City Power meter auditor went to visit the property of Johan van Rensburg in Witpoortjie to conduct meter auditing. The gate of the property was locked and therefore they could not get access to the property and the meter,” Hloni Motloung of City Power Risk Management in a press statement said.

“The City Power employee noticed that the property owner was in the house and they alerted him of their presence by knocking on his gate with car keys. When Van Rensburg did not respond, they moved on to audit other meters in the vicinity [sic].

“To their surprise, after they have left to read other meters in the neighbourhood, an aggravated Van Rensburg sped towards them and almost crashed into their vehicle. He hurled insults at the City Power meter readers, accusing them of kicking his gate and refused to allow them to access his meter. City Power was unable to read Van Rensburg’s meter and involved Metro Police to assist in this regard.

“City Power investigated the incident with the meter auditors and went to Van Rensburg’s property to ascertain the damage which he claims was caused. There was no visible proof of the purported damage,” Motloung said in his statement.

He didn’t give a date for the investigation and ignored the fact that the Record reported the damage was being repaired at the time of the initial report, 5 February.

“City Power is claming down on illegal connections and cutting off customers who refuse meter readers permission to read their meters. The utility has a mandate to ensure that it bills its customers accurately based on their actual consumption,” Motloung said.

“The utility has embarked on a city-wide campaign to ensure that all electricity meters are read, that faulty meters are replaced with automated meters,” he said.

Motloung said that in the unlikely event that a resident’s property is damaged in any way during the process, the resident can contact the City Power Claims Department. Call them on 011 490 7134 to report any damage caused.

“A City Power technician will be sent to the property to verify the damage and process the claim.”