1 Christine Mostert of Darrenwood writes: I am at the end of my tether with City Power. They installed a prepaid meter on May 1 last year and since then I have been trying to get them to stop sending me billings estimates and to reconcile my account.

After four months of harassing them, they finally sent me the job card which proves that they did install a prepaid meter on May 1.

However, my next hurdle is to get them to reconcile my account. I have tried various people but no one is willing and/or able to help. I have also approached my local residents’ association and DA councillor, but despite all their many efforts, there is still no resolution to my problem.

Mostert writes again: Just to let you know that my billing query has been resolved. Someone from staff accounts at City Power sorted it out.

2Veronica Hattwell writes: I used a credit card to make a payment and I was charged a fee of R166.78. This was because of the City of Joburg’s incompetence in not getting accounts out on time and billing me for two months on one account, thereby incurring the credit card fee.

Hattwell writes again: I am pleased to advise that I have been refunded R146.30, but not the VAT of R20.48. The City of Joburg must get the VAT back from Sars and refund me. I don’t see why I must pay Sars for their error. I pay enough in taxes as it is.

3Brian Taylor writes: My electricity account continues to be grossly excessive. According to the latest account, I am being billed for consumption of 147.793 kwh a day. My wife reads our meter each month and actual figures for recent months show a consumption of between 21 and 24kwh per day.

Our meter, on which estimated readings are still being charged, has not been in use since 2003. I have been in touch with Joburg Connect by phone and have been assured that they know we are being overcharged, but cannot make the necessary adjustments to my account until they have read our meter.

Apparently they have no record of the meter readings they conducted in February after my personal visit with Thapelo Nkomo at their offices.

I am still paying the council a nominal monthly amount of R3 000 and they assure me that as long as I do so and my account is flagged as “under query” they will not cut my electricity off.

Taylor writes again: A man came to check our meter and claimed that he had been looking for our house for over a year, despite my having been into the council offices in September 2010 and briefed the right people with the aid of their GPS map system.

Thanks to your efforts, our account is substantially in credit, but we will now wait and see if our next invoice is a true reflection of how much electricity we actually use.

4Manuel Matias from Rosettenville writes: I hope that you can assist me. I am writing on behalf of my in-laws who are elderly individuals.

During a storm on April 3, 2011, the street’s electrical pole was struck by lightning. The meter box outside the property was burned as well as the alarm system. We reported the incident to City Power.

They came to assess the damage and decided to by-pass the cables so that my in-laws could have electricity at home. They did promise to return the following day to replace the meter box.

Three months passed and the pre-paid meter was still not installed. The meter was eventually changed into a pre-paid one after many interventions. The problem now is with the billing as we are still getting bills.

The invoices show outstanding electricity plus interest as well the estimated electricity. This has been utterly frustrating. I am tired of dealing with a bunch of incompetent individuals.

I urgently request your assistance in this matter as I am concerned that eventually City Power will cut off my in-laws’ power due to their error.

Matias writes again: Thank you so much. This account issue was resolved within three days of your intervention.