City Power cuts off defaulters in the south
Reuven SDC plans to recover at least R40n of debt currently owed by businesses.
The Apartheid Museum was one of the places City Power cut off electricity because of R1.8m debt on February 21.
Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said City Power has resolved to take a tough line on non-payment of accounts and restricted services to businesses that continue to refuse to pay for services they consume.
Teams from the Reuven Service Delivery Centre (SDC) successfully conducted an aggressive revenue collection drive, which saw defaulting business in Comptonville, Village Main Extensions, Ormonde Ext 33 and Aeroton having their power supply cut off.
“Today was the first day of a week-long cut-off operation in which the Reuven SDC seeks to recover at least R40m of debt owed by businesses. City Power’s overall provision of debt stands at R8.9b across the City of Johannesburg, with Reuven SDC owed R1.2b,” he said.
The objective of this operation is to improve the profitability performance and position of City Power so it’s able to continue to repair, and maintain its infrastructure and to provide essential services to the residents of Johannesburg.
“It’s important to reinforce the culture of paying for services that customers use for the entity to continue with day-to-day operations and to invest in implementing its future energy management strategies.
“Targeted businesses were given pre-disconnection notices months ago but failed to make payment arrangements.
“The list includes two business centres both owing a total of R4.3m, two mine equipment manufacturing companies owing a total of R1.3m and the Apartheid Museum owing R1.8m.
“Over the next few days, City Power officials will be accompanied by JMPD to more targeted defaulting businesses serviced by the SDC. Teams will further remove illegal connections in hot spot areas, and encourage those customers that have defaulting accounts, especially business customers, to come to us and pay their debts or make arrangements before we go to them.
“In addition, there will be numerous outreach programmes within communities to assist with queries and payment arrangements, as well as to persuade defaulting customers to make payment arrangements to be spared from power supply restrictions. These operations will continue to run throughout the year across the city,” noted Mangena.
