Beware the ‘City Power’ cable theft scam that could leave you in the dark

Johannesburg’s City Power has alerted residents about a scam in which members of a syndicate, pretending to be employed by the utility, are allegedly stealing service cables.

According to the power utility, members of the syndicate tell residents they are there to change cables.

The syndicate mainly targets residents in Lenasia and Alexandra, and the stolen cables are used for illegal electricity connections at informal settlements.

“The theft of service cables does not result in outages. However, individual households are affected and while City Power tries to replace the cables, it is difficult to keep pace due to processes and costs,” said City Power.

It advised residents to check with City Power before allowing any work to be done in their homes, and to request an employee card which can be verified by calling 011 490 7900/11.

“We continue to advise residents to be vigilant and verify with City Power risk control before allowing contractors and technicians access to their properties.”

Last week two employees of contractors hired by City Power were arrested for alleged theft of copper cables.

The suspects were bust in possession of a 10m copper cable on Friday night. The two were employed by contractors tasked with repairs after an “earlier cable theft along the Eikenhof line supplying electricity to Naturena”, said the power utility.

“Information was received that during their work, the two contractor employees cut and stole copper cable from the trench, thus extending the length of the cable stolen earlier by criminals.

“On further investigation, it was discovered more cables had already been stolen and sold when the arrests were made,” said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

Mangena said the suspects face charges related to tampering with and theft of essential infrastructure.

“The City Power security manager responsible for the area operationalised the information and led a team of City Power security personnel and members of the police  essential infrastructure task team to the scene of the crime. During the preliminary investigation, suspicious activities were detected which resulted in the arrest of the two contractor employees.”

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