Joburg City Power says Lenasia owes R1.3 billion for unpaid electricity. Picture: Supplied/ CityPowerJHB
Joburg City Power has cut the lights at businesses, including the BP fuel station in Nancefield, Lenasia and residential blocks which owed a collective R20 million in unpaid services, while the entire area owes a whopping R1.3 billion.
The City of Johannesburg is owed a staggering R10 billion in unpaid electricity bills and in recent weeks has ramped up efforts to collect monies owed.
A 2019 report by the Sunday Independent said Soweto owed power utility Eskom an eye watering R17 billion at the time.
In recent operations, communities and businesses in the Joburg Inner City, Midrand and Naturena have been disconnected as part of the drive.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the BP filling station in Nancefield owed the city over R6.6 million.
“We have cut them off, we are waiting for them to come to a City Service Delivery Centre and pay 50% of that money so that we can reconnect them.
“We are going aggressively against everyone that is owing the City and we are going to continue doing this across the City of Johannesburg,” said Mangena, who said the levels of lawlessness were high.
The broader Lenasia business and residential community owes over R1.3 billion.
“What is more worrying, is that only 5% of metered customers in the area are paying for their electricity bills. This shows the worsening state of blatant refusal to pay for services.
“This is particularly concerning when taking into consideration the sheer scale of consumption from those customers in both industrial and residential areas,” said Mangena.
He said every week, City Power officials would be targeting defaulters and those who were illegally stealing electricity from the grid.
“We are in the process of serving more non-paying customers with notices. They will be cut-off in the coming weeks if they fail to pay.
“Although there has been some measure of push-back from some sections of communities that we have visited, there are those who are beginning to show signs of embracing what City Power is trying to achieve.
“Since the start of the programme a few weeks ago, we have already started seeing customers coming forward on a voluntary basis, to pay their outstanding bills.
“We urge more customers to visit our service delivery centres to make arrangements to settle their electricity bills before we pay them an unpleasant visit,” he said.
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