City Power demands 80% bill compliance in affected areas before responding to power outage calls

JOHANNESBURG - City Power has warned customers that it will not respond to any power outage calls until it determines that at least 80% of households in affected areas are up to date with their bills.

Starting on Friday, the utility said it will implement city-wide checks to address rampant illegal connections and meter tampering.

It's added that customers who are illegally purchasing vouchers are also heavily impacting the utility’s revenue.

City power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said, "At the moment, we are inundated with cases of damaged ground-mounted and pole-mounted transformers, and we are already facing backlogs in sourcing replacement equipment due to the escalating rate of damage."