Johannesburg’s City Power has warned customers that it will not hesitate to cut-off power supply and impose harsh penalties for tampering and bypassing newly installed smart meters.
The power utility says it has noticed a disturbing pattern of meter altering during its programme of replacing obsolete and faulty meters.
City Power says it undertook a process of installing smart meters across all its service delivery centres last year including areas like Alexandra, Naturena and Mayibuye that had connected illegally.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says they are also investigating the involvement of contractors and City Power employees in tampering and bypassing of smart meters.
“Those residents who found to have tampered with newly installed meters will be disconnected and will have to pay a reconnection fee. The entity’s security management team is following up on several leads in connection with internal collaborators and soon heads will roll. City Power will not hesitate in taking to task those who are implicated in any form of criminality, as we have demonstrated in the recent past.”
