Over 400kg of illegally connected cables removed at an informal settlement in Ennerdale

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City Power removed over 400kg of aluminum cables at an informal settlement in Ennerdale on Wednesday that had tapped illegally to their network.

The power provider said illegal connections pose significant danger to the health of their network and the lives of those who are beneficiaries of the hazardous connections.

“We urged customers to continue reporting suspected illegal connections and meter bypassing to assist us in removing the unbearable pressure placed on our infrastructure and lessen the power supply interruption associated with it,” remarked the entity’s spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

He added that five properties that were cut-off the previous week for owing more than 21 million collectively, in Alexandra, decided to reconnect unlawfully.

“After making that discovery during one of our routine checks, the Revenue Protection Team with the
help of law-enforcement went back on Thursday, to remove the illegal connections.

“The entity carried out a Level-3 disconnection which involves the removal or infrastructure to prevent future attempts at unauthorized reconnections,” Mangena said.

Meanwhile, two industrial businesses owing R8.6 million and R7.1 million respectively, as well as a well-known food brand in arrears of R2 million, are some of the customers whose electricity was cut off during the entity’s latest debt recovery drive.

The major cut-off operation, in collaboration with various law enforcement agencies, took place earlier
on Thursday, targeting a total of ten buildings under the Hursthill areas of supply.

The combined figure owed by these customers amounts to approximately R30 million.

This comes as City Power continues to intensify efforts to claw back on over R10 billion owed to the
entity, with R1.5 billion of that debt belonging to customers in the Hursthill SDC areas of supply.

One of the local community schools in Mayfair that had an unpaid electricity bill of 2.6 million, entered
into a payment agreement with City Power, making a commitment to service the debt to keep the
lights on and avoid disrupting schooling activities.

City Power Senior Manager for Revenue Enhancement, Nqobani Mzizi said they have engaged with the school to come and make arrangements.

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“This is a commitment by City Power to show that we are still a socially conscious and a caring entity hence we are going to make sure that we find each other and do our part in helping them,” he expressed.

Mzizi highlighted that they will continue to ramp up its revenue collection operations in a bid to tackle the City’s mounting debt backlog.

He urged customers whose electricity accounts are in arrears to approach their nearest SDC and make a payment arrangement.