City Power is warning residents of Johannesburg about a group of fraudsters posing as the entity’s employees.
The fraudsters have reportedly threatened to cut off the power supply to residents who refuse to pay phantom electricity bills. The three men pretending to be the entity’s employees have swindled customers out of money under the false pretense of an unpaid electricity bill.
Even customers using prepaid meters were allegedly targeted. The energy utility is appealing to all customers to refrain from making any cash payments to contractors or officials requesting money for outstanding electricity bills.
Customers were encouraged to make payments at the City of Johannesburg customers’ walk-in centres or at the utility’s offices.
During the launch of Operation Clean-Up earlier in the year, City Power’s board chairperson, Reverend Frank Chikane urged customers to report criminal incidents or corrupt behaviour on the part of officials and contractors of City Power.
The utility has partnered with authorities on an anti-corruption drive to eliminate criminal incidents like these from recurring. “Customers are urged to properly check contractor cards to verify the identity of the person before allowing them onto their property.
All City Power contractors are expected to carrying their identification cards with them at all times and each card has an expiration date,” said City Power managing director, Sicelo Xulu.
Xulu warned that contract officials were not permitted to request cash payments or unpaid bills. “If a customer receives a request of this nature, they should recognise it as fraudulent behaviour and report the case immediately,” he said.
The anti-corruption drive will not only hone in on billing fraud, but will continue with focused attention on high-risk areas around metering, including applications for new meters, relocation and reconnection of existing meters and the procurement processes within City Power’s supply chain unit.
Residents can anonymously report incidents of fraud and corruption or any suspicious officials to the tip-off anonymous hotline 0800 002587; anticorruption@tipoffs.com
Details: City Power 0800 002 587.
