By Everson Luhanga
- Tenants at four cut-off properties said they have been paying rent, but their landlords pocketed the money and never paid electricity bills.
- One Mayfair property owing almost R1 million was also found illegally connected, while another saw intimidation against City Power teams during an earlier audit.
City Power has pulled the plug on five residential properties that owe more than R6.8 million in unpaid electricity bills.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the revenue collection operation was carried out on Friday, 22 August, in the Mayfair and Newlands areas. It was led by the Hursthill Service Delivery Centre, supported by law enforcement.
Mangena said in Mayfair, one property owned by a Somalian national was found to have an outstanding debt of nearly R1 million. To make matters worse, inspectors discovered that the house was illegally connected to the grid.
“Another Mayfair property owing R1 million faced a level 2 disconnection. City Power teams had been intimidated earlier in the week when they tried to conduct an audit there,” he said.
In Newlands, two more houses owing R2.4 million and R1.1 million were cut off. A fifth house in the same suburb, which owed just over R1 million, was inaccessible. City Power disconnected it directly from the street pole instead.
Mangena said tenants at four of the affected properties said they had been paying their rent each month. But their landlords failed to settle electricity accounts, leaving them without power despite their payments. City Power described the landlords’ conduct as dishonest and unfair to tenants.
Zakhele Radebe, the acting Large Power User analyst who led the operation, said the disconnections were unavoidable. “We urge the owners of these properties to approach us at the Service Delivery Centre to make the necessary payment arrangements to avoid such actions,” he said.
Radebe added that disconnections are a last resort, but warned that customers with accounts in arrears must make arrangements to avoid losing supply.
City Power confirmed that more cut-offs will follow in the coming weeks as part of its push to recover the R1.6 billion owed to the Hursthill Service Delivery Centre.
Pictured above: City Power Technician
Image source: Supplied
