City Power - Johannesburg's power utility - has lost R2-billion in potential revenue in a single year. The loss was blamed on non-technical reasons, such as electricity theft, metering errors and data handling errors. City Power's Director of Projects, Roy Smith, yesterday told the City of Johannesburg's Municipal Public Accounts Committee that the company's sustainability could be compromised "if we do not reach the target of reducing nontechnical losses to 2%".Smith said the 2% target was informed by a World Bank report, which indicated that Brazil had been able to reduce nontechnical losses to this margin - but he conceded that South Africa was a long way off the mark.According to figures presented yesterday, nontechnical losses of electricity stood at between 14.7% and 27.7% for the year ending June 30.Smith said that, while 90 000 smart meters have been installed throughout the city, "the first phase of the meter roll-out has not been a success".Earlier this year, it was revealed that 27 000 stands in Johannesburg were billed for water but not for electricity, but Smith said the actual figure was 7000.Smith said he told the committee that the largest share of nontechnical losses was caused by large power users - companies that consume more electricity than individual consumers and residential households.To rein in losses, City Power would: further investigate the consumption of large power users, ensure Eskom bills were correct and conduct an audit of all stands to ensure meters are correct...