With a spike in the theft of electricity meters in the residential areas of the West Rand, Johannesburg electricity utility City Power has appealed to residents to refrain from buying electricity meters from unauthorised resellers.
“This is supporting the illegal trade of stolen meters and sustaining the illicit trade of fraudulent equipment on the black market,” it said.
Residents who have had their prepaid meters stolen are also urged to report the incident to the local South African Police Service and request a case number. Once the case number is obtained, the customer should phone the City of Johannesburg’s call centre to log a call for the stolen meter, where they will get a reference number.
The stolen meter will then be removed from the system and a technician will be dispatched to replace the meter.
City Power has warned residents that the utility will be conducting random audits of meters across Johannesburg and households whose meters are found to have been procured illegally will face criminal prosecution.
Customers were further encouraged to be alert of meter theft and other forms of infrastructural vandalism on City Power property as this hampered the utility’s ability to provide accurate billing and quality services to residents and contributed to increased tariffs and prices for ordinary South Africans.
“Besides the cost of replacing the infrastructure and damaged equipment, it interferes with the delivery of other essential services.”