By Everson Luhanga
- City Power disconnected electricity to 122 JOSHCO flats after finding residents had tampered with prepaid meters.
- Residents face fines of up to R30,000 for meter tampering while some staff are suspected of helping bypass meters.
Over 120 families were left in the dark after City Power removed bypassed prepaid meters at Johannesburg Social Housing Company (JOSHCO) flats in City Deep, Johannesburg.
The power cuts happened on Monday when workers found that residents had tampered with newly installed prepaid meters.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said they had done the same thing just five days earlier at JOSHCO flats in Kliptown Square, Soweto, where they also found over 120 bypassed meters.
During Monday’s operation, workers removed 122 prepaid meters and 114 circuit breakers to stop people from illegally reconnecting power.
Residents who tampered with meters now face fines of R14,000 for single-phase connections. Those with three-phase connections could be fined over R30,000 to pay for new meters.
“We are deeply concerned by the growing number of our newly installed prepaid meters being bypassed.
“Despite previous warnings to customers about the serious consequences of tampering with our meters, some individuals persist in engaging in this illegal activity. As a result, we are ramping up meter audits and removing bypassed meters to combat electricity theft,” said Mangena.
He said they are investigating claims that some contractors and City Power staff are charging between R2,000 and R5,000 to bypass meters.
“We caution the customers against colluding with these criminals as they will be facing the penalties alone, and it’s also a criminal offence,” he said.
Mangena said bypassing meters makes the electricity network unsafe and costs the city money because people aren’t paying for the power they use.
He urged customers not to pay anyone to bypass their meters and to report demands for cash payments or offers of illegal connections to City Power Security Risk Management on 011 490 7900/7911 or WhatsApp 083 579 4497.
Pictured above: City Power disconnecting the illegal connections.
Source: Supplied