Three households of elderly members were left in the dark after the City of Mbombela (CoM) cut their electricity supply, accusing them of tampering with their electricity meter boxes.

The CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, said the municipality noticed irregularities on the electricity meter box around May, and a warning and fine of R7 803 were issued. The families continued to use the electricity through the box that was tampered with, until it was cut off on October 20.

Ngala said when a meter is tampered with, electricity is consumed at a slower than normal rate.
He also said once people are caught tampering with electricity meters, there are no negotiations – they must pay the fine before the power is switched back on.
“Tampering with electricity infrastructure can have adverse consequences beyond the reconnection fee. The city can still levy the offender for the duration of the tampering and criminally pursue the matter depending on the severity of the offence,” said Ngala.

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The three families denied tampering with their electricity meter boxes, claiming they are too old to do so and do not even know how to open the box.
“We did not receive any warning from the CoM. We were surprised when the unmarked bakkie came to our houses and CoM officials accused us of tampering with its electricity box,” they said.

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They also claimed that they had been paying their electricity bill monthly without defaulting, and they demanded that the municipality reconnect their power, because they did not do anything wrong and they do not have the R7 803 for the fine.
“We are pensioners and we cannot afford that money. We also plead with the municipality to do its investigation to figure out what happened. Our food got spoilt in our fridge,” they said.