Johannesburg’s City Power says it has no alternative but to continue with its revenue collection operation, due to the added negative financial impact of rolling blackouts.
It is cutting power to government institutions and businesses that are defaulting on their electricity accounts, with a target of recouping around R36 million. It comes as Eskom implements Stages 4 and 5 rolling blackouts.
City Power’s Spokesperson Isaac Mangena adds, “This is something we are doing on a daily basis to ensure that we recover this money because this is the money that we need, especially during these hard times of load shedding where we are losing revenue as City Power due to the impact of load shedding on our infrastructure, but also on the staff themselves because we have to pay some people overtime. We are intensifying this drive to recover every cent.”
City Power is expected to conclude its 3-day revenue collection drive by targeting businesses and residential units within the Alexandra Township which fail to pay their electricity bill.
It says only 4% of consumers in this Township, north of Johannesburg pay for their electricity consumption. The utility adds that in Alexandra alone, it is owed more than R 360 million in unpaid electricity.
City Power’s Mangena says they are aware that they might be met with resistance from the residents but says their approach will not be adversarial.
“Inside Alexandra, we are looking at the car wash businesses, hair salons, taverns and shebeens and also we going to target the backyard rooms because those people are making money from the tenants, but they are not paying for the electricity that they are using. We are also going to go after the illegal connection which is the last day on Thursday,” says Mangena.
Additional reporting by Tshepo Phagane
