Prepaid power glitch in Jhb
2009-07-03 14:21
Verashni Pillay
Johannesburg - Prepaid electricity users in Johannesburg were urged to make use of walk-in centres after some experienced difficulties loading new units into their meters after recent tariff hikes.
"We are busy updating the software but if a customer experiences any difficulty they will unfortunately have to go to the nearest City Power walk-in centre with the receipt," Louis Pieterse, the city's director of engineering operations, told News24.
News24 user Lisa Kruger was stranded on Wednesday without electricity when her meter wouldn't accept her voucher.
"I'm glad Gabriel was not at home in the cold," she said of her five-year-old daughter. "The darkness is okay, not the cold."
Kruger managed to get a supervisor to help her over the phone. But Pieterse advised users to make use of the walk-in centres.
"I think it's advisable to do it via the walk in centres simply because you are capturing two sets of twenty digit numbers and you might just not capture all the numbers correctly," he said.
The centre's opening hours had been extended until 19:00, to deal with the problem. A list of contacts could be found on the city power website: http://www.citypower.co.za.
Customers could also make use of the 24-hour call centre on 011 375 5555.
The tariff increase, effective from July 1, saw a rise in the average standard tariff from 25.24c per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 33.14c.