Pretoria – City Power has continued on its aggressive revenue collection by cutting off electricity in an effort to recoup some of the billions owed by residents and businesses in the Joburg CBD.
Since this week started, the team went to defaulting residential and business customers in Hillbrow, Berea, and Fordsburg.
According to the City Power, Joburg CBD alone owes more than R2bn.
Business establishments that felt the wrath of the City included the Johannesburg Hotel which has a debt of R9.9m, The Reef Hotel owing R13m and Betfred which owed R3m.
The utility said it also cut power in two block of flats that were illegally connected.
“One of the flats had illegally re-connected themselves after it was initially disconnected in November,” said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.
Last week, the campaign focused on Alexandra township and its surrounding areas.
Alexandra’s electricity debt was more than R360m.
Mangena said that they would continue the blitz every month as there was R4bn which was owed by its customers.
“We are under pressure in terms of finances and we are suffering in terms of the service delivery that we are supposed to be providing … We need to ensure that we use that money for maintenance of our infrastructure,” he said at the time.
WATCH: One of the defaulting customers disconnected during an operation today is sports betting company #BetFred in the Joburg CBD.
— @CityPowerJhb (@CityPowerJhb) January 24, 2023
The company owes about R3m. It is not the first time it was cut-off. pic.twitter.com/knmmNuuljY
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