Residents in Ward 86 have raised concerns after some prepaid electricity customers, including pensioners and Expanded Social Package (ESP) beneficiaries, reported receiving fewer electricity units than expected and questioned whether approved surcharge exemptions had been correctly applied.

The issue gained attention after Sophiatown residents noticed apparent discrepancies in prepaid electricity purchases.

According to residents, concerns centred on reduced electricity allocations and whether pensioners and ESP beneficiaries were receiving the full benefit of their exemptions following a recent City Power system upgrade.

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Resident Peta Louise said a R100 token purchased at a local vendor yielded substantially fewer units than previous purchases, prompting discussions among residents and concerns about affordability, particularly for pensioners and ESP recipients who rely on prepaid electricity.

City Power has rejected suggestions that qualifying pensioners are broadly receiving less electricity due to tariff changes.

Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the utility recently completed a system upgrade to improve its prepaid electricity vending platform.

During the migration process, some customer ESP numbers were not correctly recognised, resulting in certain customers being incorrectly billed or having approved exemptions not properly applied.

Mangena stressed that City Power has not implemented any changes to its prepaid electricity tariffs or billing structure that would result in customers receiving fewer electricity units than expected.

“The concerns raised by some residents are linked to isolated account-specific issues arising from the system upgrade and not to any changes in tariffs or prepaid electricity billing policies,” he said.

He added that investigations have found no evidence of a widespread system fault, technical error or incorrect tariff configuration affecting prepaid customers.

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Mangena confirmed that City Power has been correcting account-specific issues as they are identified and said the resident who raised the concern had already received a refund.

He further stated that qualifying pensioners who are correctly registered remain exempt from the prepaid electricity surcharge across Johannesburg.

While City Power acknowledged receiving individual queries relating to prepaid electricity purchases, Mangena said the utility has not identified evidence of a widespread problem affecting residents in Sophiatown or Ward 86.

Residents who believe they may have been incorrectly charged are encouraged to retain their receipts and token details and report the matter to City Power for investigation.

The utility said each case must be assessed individually, as prepaid electricity transactions are influenced by factors including tariff classification, account configuration, exemption status and ESP registration details.

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