The Germiston City News received a letter on Wednesday, August 6.
It was delivered to our offices by Gerald Nekhybvi and reads:
Dear Owner/Tenant/Managing Agent.
ACCESS TO EKURHULENI MUNICIPALITY’S ELECTRICITY PLANT.
Your premises will be visited by the Energy Department’s Staff/Appointed Contractors between 01 August 2014 to 31 March 2015 to perform either routine maintenance work, or to perform other Energy Department related work (i.e. meter inspection). Access to the electrical plant situated on the premises will be required.
In the event of the Energy Department’s Staff/Appointed Contractors not being able to gain access to the council equipment for two consecutive inspections the Council may forthwith discontinue the supply of electricity with respect to the premises to which that equipment relates.
No persons shall willfully hinder, obstruct, interfere with or refuse admittance to any duly authorized official of the Council in the performance of his duty or of any duty connected therewith or relating thereto.
We will be in your area from 06 August 2014.
Since receiving this letter the GCN has received several calls from the public asking whether this letter is authentic or yet another scam doing the rounds.
The GCN asked the metro to comment on whether or not the letter had indeed been distributed by the metro.
How the Energy Department’s Staff/Appointed Contractors can be identified?
And how the Energy Department’s Staff/Appointed Contractors be monitored to ensure that criminals do not take this as an opportunity to gain access to residents property?
The last point is of great concern to residents in the area.
Sgt Styles Maome, communications officer for the Primrose police, told the GCN: “Residents should be aware, as we have had reports of criminals using letters similar to this to gain access into homes.”
The metro responded to the GCN’s questions with the following statement from Themba Gadebe, of the metro’s department of communications and brand management: “The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s Energy Department is currently busy auditing all their electricity meters in the Germiston area.
“The reason for auditing the meters is to update our database, to upgrade the service connection where necessary and also to assist the Finance Department correcting their billing cycles where possible.’
“The information to be recorded from our field workers will be, the circuit breaker/s size, the type of meter/s, the meter number/s, the position of the meter/s (inside the house, next to the house, on the boundary, metering kiosk or pole boxes), GPS Co-ordinates and a digital picture of the meter. “An audit on a normal domestic dwelling can take approximately 10 minutes.
“No work will be carried out on the meter/s during the audit.
“All fieldworkers will and must have an EMM identification card, with their names, face and ID number on it.
“Access must be given if the meter is situated inside the property and the fieldworker is positively identified.
“If the customer is not comfortable with giving access to our fieldworkers, they may contact 011 999-1957/0997.
“If access is denied or the resident is not available, three notices will be issued on different days and, if there is still no response, the service connection will be discontinued as per the Metro’s Electricity By-Laws.
“The Ekurhuleni Metro trusts that we will receive a positive response and participation from our customers in order for us to render a better service.”
