Johannesburg – Some residents of posh Dainfern estates are suspected to have been stealing electricity by bypassing meters and some have allegedly gone for over a year without paying for power.
City Power said as a result of that, on Wednesday they were cutting off the electricity at three estates that have 1 098 people who owe a combined R13 million.
Spokesperson for the power utility Isaac Mangens said the disconnection operation was part of City Power's revenue collection efforts.
“We are targeting those who owe their electricity bill, illegally connected to our network, bridged meters, and meters that have been tampered with to ensure the customer is not correctly billed.
“There is one house that owes R1.4m. We don’t know just how long people have not been paying and we suspected that others just bypassed the meters while some just defaulted,” he said.
In July, City Power officials, flanked by police and soldiers, went to Rabie Ridge, Midrand, and disconnected illegal electricity connections that had been powering shacks and houses in the area.
Mangena said at the time the illegal connections had caused unplanned outages that had become a source of frustration for Johannesburg residents.
The City of Joburg had apologised to residents for the power cuts that came in the middle of winter.
Mangena said a team of private and plainclothes security would remain in the area to ensure illegal reconnections were not made. He also said the metro police and the Rabie Ridge SAPS would continue to patrol the area.
IOL