The Joburg City Power officials and a small contingent of Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers invaded five properties by cutting off electricity in an effort to recoup R37 million owed to the City.
City Power has been on an aggressive revenue collection drive by cutting off electricity to get defaulting clients to pay, as well as removing illegal connections where people had bypassed meters.
On Friday, North Hill flats in Yeoville felt the City’s wrath after it was disconnected for owing over R2.2m.
The team also went to Yettah Street in Hillbrow and disconnected Safari Court, which owes more than R16m.
It was also found that they had illegally reconnected themselves on the City’s network.
Damelin College in Braamfontein was cut off for underpaying their electricity service after falling into over R2.9m in arrears.
The City stated that it will persist in disconnecting non-paying customers as their non-compliance creates challenges in delivering essential services.
"Our main objective is for us to collect the revenue. The total amount we are expecting to collect today is about R37m," said City Power's customer care manager, Mmaphuti Makgabo.
Early this month, the power utility went to Midrand and cut off electricity at non-paying residential complexes.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said their target was to recoup R50m, but Midrand alone owed over R350m.
He said “quite unfortunately” in most cases, City Power finds that the tenants at the residential premises would be paying their electricity bills to property management utility companies.
“However, those property managers fail to pay the entity, which worryingly affects paying tenants. We condemn that behaviour in the strongest possible terms, and we urge tenants to hold their body corporates accountable for this,” Mangena said at the time.
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