Joburg residents should prepare themselves to make their electricity meters available to “auditors.”
|||Joburg residents should prepare themselves to make their electricity meters available to “auditors” who will visit their properties during the next 12 months – or face the cut-off of services.
About 400 000 electricity meters are to be checked by the City of Joburg, while it tries to clean up its database which it says is “fraught with errors”.
The city has found, among other problems, that not all proclaimed stands are correctly serviced with electricity; there is incorrect and incomplete customer data on accounts; customers with prepaid meters are still receiving bills; faulty meters are not replaced or repaired; there are illegal connections; and customers are not being correctly billed.
This data clean-up project is separate from another one launched by the council in June and July, which is targeted at 40 000 properties not accessible to meter readers.
The city has been placing red stickers on the affected properties. Those marked are required to call the telephone number on the sticker and arrange for a meter reading. Failing this, their power will be cut.
In the new campaign by City Power, residents can arrange for the auditors to come to their property at a specific time within the period the auditors will be in their area.
Those found with illegal connections will have their services cut and will be fined.
According to city revenue department spokesman Kgamanyane Stan Maphologela, the by-laws governing the access to municipal services allow City Power to cut off any customer who refuses entry and access to their properties.
“Reasonable notification will be given to the customer to grant us access, failing which the by-laws will be implemented and residents can expect to be cut off and pay a fine,” he said.
“The data collection and verification initiative done by City Power on behalf of the City of Joburg intends to validate and audit all stands within City Power’s area of supply. The exercise will help the city understand the challenges that customers face regarding the conditions of electricity supply and that customers are serviced effectively.
“Furthermore, this exercise will also ensure that correct data is used when customers are billed,” said Maphologela.
Audits started in Midrand on Monday and will start in Randburg, Bryanston, Blairgowrie and Pine Park on August 1.
How to identity your auditors
*The team will wear reflective jackets with City Power and Motla logos.
*They will have identification cards and an audit authorisation letter from City Power.
*For more information, or to verify the authenticity of the data audit contractors, residents may contact call centres at 086 146 6852 and 0860 562 874, SMS on 073 001 0473 or visit www.citypower.co.za or www.motla.co.za
* A schedule of the audit in your area will be published and then often updated on City Power’s website: www.citypower.co.za/auditschedule
* If residents receive a red sticker where meters can’t be accessed, contact the City Power contractor on 011 490 7484; e-mail: estimations@citypower.co.za or SMS 44074.
* Call centre hours are from 7am to 10pm from Monday to Friday and 7am to 1pm at weekends. Residents need to make an appointment for their meter reading.
The Star