*This article has been edited
Johannesburg - The City of Joburg is taking tough action against electricity fraudsters.
Last week, municipal officials checked up on three commercial properties which had been switched off due to non-payment – and found them all illegally reconnected, so it had to switch them off again.
They are the China Discount Shopping Centre in Blairgowrie, Randburg, a block of flats in Florida, Roodepoort, and a block of shops in South Hills, Joburg.
At the China Discount Shopping Centre, certain tenants had illegally reconnected power to one section of the centre. All shopowners found with illegally connected power were fined R1 500. One section of the mall runs off a generator.
When officials discovered the illegal reconnection, the Joburg metro police department was called.
City of Joburg director of customer communications Kgamanyane Stan Maphologela accompanied the officials on the inspection.
“The original lock put on the meter was gone and had been replaced with a different one. We will be investigating criminal charges on that as well,” he said.
There were illegal cables drawn from a light fitting in the basement into the shops. In many places, live cables were touching water.
On the upper level, officials again found long lengths of cable leading from outbuildings to the shops.
Most of the shopowners spoke little English and did not know what was going on when officers fined them. One said they did not know who had reconnected the power.
Maphologela said an attorney representing the tenants, who he would not name, citing customers’ confidentiality, had offered to pay R130 000 of the R3 million owing, but negotiations were continuing.
“We usually require half the arrears to be paid as a deposit and we require people to sign a debt agreement to pay the rest off,” he said.
The next step could be a level 3 cut-off where the centre is permanently taken off the grid and would have to reapply for electricity, which is granted only under certain conditions. Restoration to a centre like China Discount would cost more than R20 000.
The disconnection team also visited the former Florida Hotel in Maraisburg Road, Florida, which has been converted into a block of flats. There too they found the whole building and four surrounding houses illegally connected.
Maphologela said a task team comprising the city’s credit control officials, metro police and inspectors had undertaken a number of cases, where millions of rand had been lost through illegal connections.
“By conducting door-to-door credit control and using tip-offs from the public, the city has uncovered a number of customers who were illegally connected to the grid. We have been forced into taking drastic action because many customers ignore pre-termination notices sent to them as a result of overdue accounts, and also reconnect themselves illegally if they are disconnected,” he said.
The city issues about 25 000 pre-termination notices a month, of which more than half are ignored.
Customers owe the City of Joburg R15.4 billion, and the figure keeps growing alarmingly, Maphologela said.
“The fact that not only household consumers, but also businesses and the government itself are in arrears demonstrates that debt collection practices are inadequate and that the factors that underpin the reasons for and the consequences of non-payment have not been sufficiently addressed in a disciplined manner.”
Final Warning
If you fail to pay your electricity account after 30 days of date of statement, the council will send you a final warning notice. You must respond to this within 14 days. The charge for this notice is R200.
Level 1 disconnection
A first-level electricity disconnection is an action that will be undertaken, normally by simply switching off the electricity in a lockable distribution box situated remotely from where the consumption takes place. If the final-demand notice is ignored and payment isn’t made within the prescribed time, the first-level electricity disconnection will normally be effected at once. The cost is R600.88.
Level 2 disconnection
A second-level electricity disconnection is normally the removal of the circuit breaker. A second-level electricity disconnection normally follows within days of an illegal-consumption inspection establishing that an illegal electricity connection has been made. The cost is R600.88.
Level 3 disconnection
If illegal consumption continues, the customer’s account is referred to a special credit control committee for “remove installation permanently” (RIP) action, with recommendations that the supply installations be permanently removed.
If a level 3 disconnection is performed and you have paid your account or made arrangements to pay, you will be required to pay a new service connection, as a level 3 reconnection is considered to be a new connection.
For a new connection you will need to:
* Submit proof of debt settlement or a debt arrangement letter from the council.
* Complete a new service connection application at a customer service centre.
* Produce a certificate of compliance from an accredited electrician.
It will take a minimum of 21 days to activate this new connection.
The cost is R2 649.13.