Johannesburg - A determined Balfour Lekgwathi took on his landlord for overcharging him for electricity and won in a practice now described as “widespread” among electricity resellers.
Resellers are middlemen that manage the electricity metering and billing of residential, commercial and industrial properties on behalf of landlords and body corporates.
Lekgwathi calculated he had been charged a higher-than prescribed tariff by the reseller employed by his landlord on a property he rented for a period of 11 months.
“I paid in total R2 263…I had been unlawfully overcharged for and in contravention of the law and the regulated tariffs approved by the electricity regulator,” he said.
“The fact is no business is allowed to profit from electricity resale and, if they do so, that practice amounts to profit which such companies are not entitled to.”
An electricity reseller is not allowed to charge a consumer more than the municipality or Eskom would charge.
This week marked the end of submissions of public comments to the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) on its consultation paper on the guidelines for electricity reseller tariffs.
The comments were sought amid increasing complaints by consumers and as an attempt to explore various options to promote the orderly functioning of the electricity supply industry.
The practice of overcharging for electricity, according to complainants, is rife among residential rental properties and commercial landlords.
Nersa spokesman Charles Hlebela said the regulator had complaints and dispute-resolution procedures in place and in most cases complaints were resolved after its intervention.
“Nersa is in the process of developing guidelines for electricity-reseller tariffs,” he said. “However, the electricity pricing policy states that a reseller should charge the same rates as charged by licensees – municipalities – to their customers.”
The Saturday Star has been forwarded several complaints about the cost of domestic prepaid electricity and “inflated” bills by metering companies.
Nersa has heard numerous cases where consumers in body corporates and places supplied by resellers pay more than those in freestanding houses or areas that are supplied by the municipality. To prevent this practice, a new tariff is being proposed to ensure a reseller sells at the same rate as the municipality after purchasing electricity at a lower rate.
The consultation paper also examines whether incentives should be provided to resellers for a special cost recovery or how resellers can be compensated for costs incurred in operating network without overcharging customers.
Lekgwathi said his case was just the “tip of the iceberg” because many unsuspecting people may have been “ripped off”.
“It is common practice in the Bellevue-Yeoville area that landlords take advantage of tenants. In most cases, it is because the area has a high influx of foreign nationals and they don’t look deeply into matters like this,” he said.
Saturday Star