'Defaulting landlord' leaves shopping centre tenants fuming in the dark

City Power cuts electricity after alleging landlord tampered with the meter

10 February 2023 - 17:22
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North Riding Square shopping centre was disconnected by City Power on Friday morning for non-payment and alleged meter tampering.
North Riding Square shopping centre was disconnected by City Power on Friday morning for non-payment and alleged meter tampering.
Image: Phathu Luvhengo

A defaulting landlord who allegedly regularly tampers with an electricity meter box to avoid paying for power has left his tenants in darkness and struggling to run their businesses.

City Power disconnected North Riding Square shopping centre On Friday morning because of the alleged tampering as the utility intensified its effort to recover revenue from non-paying and defaulting customers.

The City of Johannesburg entity embarked on a cut-off operation in Randburg as part of its tough stance on debt collection. It targeted customers ranging from businesses, which included the shopping centre, key customers, government institutions to residential homes.

City Power said its operation was bearing fruit as more than R3.8bn was recovered between October and December last year. .

When disconnecting the shopping centre, Thamsanqa Mathiso, City Power's general manager for revenue management, said it had picked up that the owner of the centre had allegedly tampered with the meter.

“Meter tampering is [a major] contributing factor to our high non-technical losses. It means that we buy electricity and are unable to sell it because of customers like this who tamper with meters and we end up not billing them for what they are using,” he said.

Mathiso said R7.9bn is owed to City Power and it has recorded losses of more than R3bn a year because of tampering, theft and vandalism of infrastructure.

“We are here today to demonstrate even to commercial properties that we want everybody to make sure that they comply and their meters are in order,” Mathiso said. 

He said the shopping centre landlord had been tampering with the meter almost every month.

In the past few months, City Power would solve the tampering but in December was forced to disconnect the centre.

Mathiso said, however, the customer apparently managed to recruit either private electricians or engineers to reconnect the centre.

Given the capacity of electricity consumption by the centre, Mathiso said the landlord could pay more than R100,000 in penalty fees before the electricity would be reconnected.

“This is a deliberate attempt to not pay the city the correct amount. The account is up-to-date but the city might be billing a third or even less of what this shopping centre is consuming.

“When we were here in December we left a nonconformance letter and we came back today because we picked up a month after that the consumption hasn’t moved so much,” said Mathiso.

He didn’t rule out the possibility of City Power electricians regularly reconnecting defaulting customers.

“If it is one of us and we hear about it, City Power will take action,” he said.

City Power Randburg depot area manager Lufuno Bale said non-paying and defaulting customers in the area owe about R500m.

Mario Wolmarans, one of the restaurant owners in North Riding Square, said he wasn’t aware that the landlord was defaulting or had tampered with the meter.

City Power continued with its electricity cut-off blitz on Friday morning.
City Power continued with its electricity cut-off blitz on Friday morning.
Image: Phathu Luvhengo

“There must be some sort of mistake. I am hearing this for the first time,” he said.

Wolmarans said he was invoiced by the landlord for electricity and was paying a substantial amount every month.

He said apart from the disconnection, load-shedding was  collapsing his business and it was getting increasingly difficult to operate.

“I was not aware that the owner bridged the meters. That makes me angry because my monthly electricity bill is massive. 

“To run a generator is not an effective way of running a business. This is breaking us to the point where it is not even viable to run it any more,” he said.

“Relocating at this stage won’t be an easy process. This is a big restaurant and finding space in the area is difficult. We have been operating here for nearly 18 years. People know us and come for what we offer.”

The centre management has been approached for comment.  The story will be updated when it is received.

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