The ward 66 councillor, Clr Carlos Da Rocha, said residents are being legally robbed by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) through smart meters.
Clr Da Rocha said he has been inundated with complains about smart meters from frustrated residents.
“The last few weeks I have had nothing but complaints from residents. All were complaining that they are charged a fortune. For example, a resident who used to use R1 000 of electricity each month is suddenly charged R3 000 to R4 000. What makes maters worse, is that if residents don’t pay what they are being charged, they get cut off. Then, innocent or not, they must still pay re-connection fees. It is ridiculous as my residents are getting legally robbed blind by the city council,” he said.
Clr Da Rocha said the smart meters were installed by the CoJ in Kensington.
“The idea was so that meter readers would not have to come out read the meters. They could do it remotely. Instead, they cannot read them if they are not working. These meters should have been calibrated before installing them. They seem to have been supplied by a shady manufacture,” said Clr Da Rocha.
He said this has led to the CoJ charging residents using the interim readings.
The EXPRESS requested comment regarding this matter from City Power on Thursday, October 8.
Comment was requested by October 8 at 12.30pm.
At the time of going to print, no comment was received
