City Power grants amnesty to electricity fraudsters

15 May 2017

 

City of Johannesburg customers who have tampered with their electricity meters or allowed them to be tampered with to avoid paying for their consumption have been granted amnesty.

 

In terms of the three-month amnesty, which came into effect on 1 April 2017, customers who have not been purchasing electricity for a considerable period because they have been getting it through meter tampering, have until June 30 to report this to City Power, the City’s electricity utility, or face heavy penalties.

City Power’s spokesman, Virgil James, says meter tampering constitutes fraud and may result in criminal charges being preferred on the offending customers. He says meter tampering includes any action that results in the breaking of a seal; opening, adjustment or removal of a meter; bypassing a meter; opening of a meter box; or interfering with the meter or municipal wiring, piping or any other installation in any manner whatsoever.

Categories of meter tampering include bypassed meters; faulty meters or keypads (customer interactive units); connection through stolen meters, meters bought illegally from electrical contractors, technicians; and illegally connected meters.

Customers whose meters have been found to have been tampered with are liable for their actions, except during the current amnesty.

James has urged customers whose meters have been tampered with to come forward and use the amnesty period as a window of opportunity to get City Power to “normalise” their meters free of charge.

He says registering the tampered meters during the amnesty period will help customers to avoid penalties such as reconnection fees and average monthly consumption charges for the period the meter has not been vending. City Power’s technicians will then visit the premises of the amnesty applicants to “normalise” the meter.

To apply for the amnesty, customers are required to provide their City of Johannesburg rates and taxes statement not older than three months, a valid identity document, stand number and meter number. Customers can apply for the amnesty at City Power’s head office in 40 Heronmere Road, Reuven, Booysens, in Johannesburg.

The City of Johannesburg loses millions of rand every year through illegal electricity connections, including meter tampering. Research into meter tampering in Johannesburg has found that some of the biggest culprits are large companies.