Residents of Witfield in Dawid Street complained that the metro had recently deprived them of their basic human rights, access to electricity, by removing their meter boxes.
According to the residents aggrieved by the disconnections, officials recently stormed the area and unfairly conducted an indiscriminate removal of the meter boxes – even those of its paying clients.
In its response to questions by the Advertiser, the municipality said City officials from the Energy Revenue Service acted within their authority to stop electricity thefts by households whose meter boxes were found to have been tampered with.
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“This was not a violation of customers’ rights. Meter audit is a daily function of our Revenue Services division, and all meter boxes that are found to be tampered with or bypassed are removed, and the specified reinstatement fee is imposed,” explained metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.
Dlamini pointed out that some of the customers who have paid reinstatement fees have had their power restored.
“Four of the seven affected houses paid the reinstatement fee and their power was restored and new prepaid meters were installed. Only those who haven’t paid the reinstatement are supposed to remain disconnected.”
200 illegal power lines removed
In another operation that dealt with electricity thefts, power officials alongside EMPD officers recently stormed one of the City’s illegal connection hot spots, Angelo informal settlement, and removed about 200 illegally connected power lines.
The City posted pictures of the raid on Facebook and described the illegal electricity connections as the contributing factor to the perpetual power outages rocking Lilianton and Witfield areas.
“The City strives to supply uninterrupted electricity to its residents and continues to clamp down on illegal connections and tampering with the City’s infrastructure,” reads the City’s Facebook post.
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