City Power cuts off electricity to 25 Alexandra businesses for non-payment, meter tampering

JOHANNESBURG - Johannesburg City Power has cut off electricity to 25 businesses in Alexandra for non-payment and tampering with their meters.

Earlier in October, smart meters were installed for 40 outlets in Alexandra to stop illegal connections.

However, it turned out that 25 of them tampered with the meters, resulting in significantly lower payments than required.

"We realised that there are some meters that are no longer buying electricity, and when we arrived here this morning [Tuesday], we realised they’ve bypassed themselves and they are using electricity without paying for it," said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

Mangena said a businessman was arrested for tampering with electricity infrastructure.

"There is one shop that is paying R50, and they have a huge operation. It means they have tampered with the meter so that it charges them a lower amount."