JOHANNESBURG – Residents in Naturena have criticised Johannesburg City Power’s blanket approach of disconnecting entire blocks of streets instead of individual non-paying customers.
On Tuesday, City Power went on a disconnection drive in the south Johannesburg suburb.
Some residents refused City Power technicians access to their meters, so the utility took the step of disconnecting everyone in the affected street.
Naturena resident and pensioner, Silas Tloubatla, said his home was cut off despite the fact that they used a prepaid electricity meter.
“I didn’t know there were people actually staying here and not paying anything. We are paying, yes and they are supposed to be going house to house, not to switch off everybody. We are cooking at home now because we notice there is no load shedding, all of a sudden the electricity is gone.”
City Power’s head of revenue management, Thamsanqa Mathiso, has defended the blanket approach, saying there’s a culture of non-payment in Naturena.
He said residents whose accounts were up to date could visit their offices to be reconnected.
“The city has reviewed its credit control policy and people think that when they pay for electricity or they are on prepaid, it’s enough. It’s a packaged service and fortunately, the city uses electricity to collect for other services.”