City Power must tackle unpaid electricity debt

The news from Joburg City Power that its largest unpaid bills are concentrated in affluent suburbs, businesses and commercial hubs comes at a rather convenient time for the utility, central as it is to the huge debt mountain accumulated by the municipality.

So bad is the debt that National Treasury has suspended its monthly transfers until some of the bills are paid.

There are some observations to be made about this new information.

First, it gives the lie – or does it? – to the claim that electricity debt has ballooned because Joburg has allowed townships to get away with not paying their bills.

This seems to indicate that it is the fat cats in the suburbs who are the real defaulters.

However, how does that interpretation square with the auditor-general’s 2023-24 findings which recorded R4.9 billion in electricity losses in Johannesburg, caused mainly by illegal connections, damaged and bypassed meters, technical losses and billing failures?

And, in connection (ha ha) with the latter, outrageous and incorrect bills have seen a number of residents and businesses dragging the city to court about termination threats or actual service cut-offs.

The city has won few of these cases and, anecdotally at least, there are many customers out there trying to wade through the chaotic and unhelpful billing system to get blatantly incorrect charges reversed.

Having said that, though, it is no surprise that bills have been allowed to pile up everywhere, because there has been a total lack of consistency in pursuing culprits.

Some have been allowed to continue using electricity for months or even years, while pensioners have been chased for comparatively trivial debts.

City Power has, it must be said, made strides in correcting its billing systems after their removal from the city’s general accounting structure.

But the glitches continue and need to be rooted out.