City Power breaks open brand new meter box, after tender company withholds key
FERNDALE – Resident suffers after City Power apparently fails to pay a company awarded the tender to instal tamper-proof meter boxes.
City Power contractors had to borrow an angle grinder from a resident to break open a brand new meter box after a payment dispute saw the company that installed the box refuse to provide the key.
Ward 104 councillor Mike Wood expressed his frustration at the incident in Ferndale, after Vale Avenue resident Allison Bothma, her family and tenants were caught in the middle of a dispute between City Power and a company that was awarded a tender to install the tamper-proof meter boxes in the area.
“It is alleged that the supplier was not paid by the City and withheld the keys,” Wood explained.
Bothma said it all started with a power surge that led to a trip. All that was needed was a switch to be lifted at the meter, but Bothma could not open the new meter box.
She logged a call with City Power but had to wait a full day for contractors to arrive the next morning.
“Between 08:00 and 11:00 they did nothing, they couldn’t open the meter box and they literally just stood there looking at it,” Bothma said.
“When I asked why they did not have the key they tried to dodge my questions but eventually, they showed me their SMS instructions from the depot to break open the box. They said they could get into trouble for telling me this, but the company that had the tender to instal the tamper-proof meter boxes in the area had not been paid and had taken the keys away.”
Bothma said she grew increasingly frustrated, as many people were working from home on the property and they had lost much work time.
Furthermore, as a taxpayer, she wondered why residents should have to pay the municipality for new tamper-proof meter boxes only to again have to pay the entity to send contractors out to break the boxes open.
“If I knew which company had they keys I would have gladly paid them R10 000 to have the key, because we lost more than that much in two days of being unable to work.”
Finally around 17:00 that following day, the contractors, who were apparently only equipped with the head of a pick, were given an angle grinder by Bothma to open the meter box.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena was contacted about this matter repeatedly since July 21, and asked for comment.
The Randburg Sun will publish his comments as they are made.
