Customers who do not upgrade their prepaid electricity meters by Saturday risk having their power supply disconnected and facing a fine of up to R14, 000.
This is according to a warning released by City Power, the electricity supply company that caters for the City of Johannesburg.
This follows the extension to November 30, from the initial deadline for upgrading meters for non-vending customers, which was November 24.
According to City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena, a significant number of non-vending customers have visited their Service Delivery Centres (SDCs) to seek assistance.
“We have seen an influx of previously non-vending customers over the weekend. So our team is consolidating the numbers from the weekend and will capture more in the coming days,” he stated.
Deadline extended
Mangena stated that City Power has extended the grace period for non-payment of penalty fees until Saturday, November 30. This is in order to help consumers re-code their meters.
Meanwhile, Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has detailed the loss to illegal consumption. He said that Eskom is losing R2.5-billion per month due to people who are using electricity unlawfully.
Ramokgopa was giving an update on the process of upgrading electricity prepaid meter boxes. He said this on Wednesday in Cape Town.
“I am not accounting for municipalities, because municipalities will have their own process. Eskom alone has been losing R2.5-billion per month. And over a period of a year, Eskom is losing R30-billion on this category,” said Ramokgopa.
Municipalities owed billions
He further said municipalities collectively are owed R340-billion.
“We know that the municipal system is not as robust as the Eskom one. So one can make a safe assumption that in fact the loss of the municipalities is double that of Eskom. This is a result of people who choose not to pay for their electricity bills.”
People have told him, he claimed, that they haven’t purchased electricity since 2018.
“A temper fine entails an honourable responsibility of R6,000, which will be paid over a 12-month period. This… is basically an acknowledgement of guilt that a client has been using electricity illegally. The monthly payment from a consumer is R500.”
