Amid all kinds of assurances from the City of Joburg that its billing mess will soon be sorted out, a frustrated resident in Mayfair is fuming as he keeps receiving monthly electricity bills of about R33 000 for a building that burnt down months ago.
The electricity cables were removed from the building by City Power after it burnt down in October last year according to Moosa Patel, a member of the family trust that owns the building in Crown. He says that charges of arson are still being investigated after the building was completely gutted by the fire.
Patel says that in December, the council charged a disconnection fee for the building – after all the cables had been disconnected and removed – and this reflected on the December statement. However, the bills just keep rolling in and Patel says that the account now stands at more than R200k.
He says that obviously no electricity could have been used at the building but his protestations to the council have been met with blank stares. He says the trust submitted certified proof to the city that the building had been gutted and a letter from the fire department confirmed this as well.
Patel says the family even submitted the case number from the South African Police Service for the incident but, despite this, the council has continued to bill them. At the time of the fire the building was occupied by three different tenants all running businesses from the building.
Patel says that the building is now being rebuilt.
He says that the family trust has had similar experiences with other buildings that the own insisting that the Johannesburg Council is “oppressive, dishonest and fraudulent” when it comes to billing for electricity and then, when complaints are lodged, adopting an obstructive attitude to getting the matter sorted out.
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We have exactly the same problem. We own a property which the building burnt down nearly two years ago. Firstly we were sent a bill from the fire department for the trucks they sent, they sent three trucks - the first two had absolutely no water and the third arrived way to late so the house burnt down completely. Then for a period of about 8-14 month we regularly received w/l account of amounts varying from R2500 to R25 000. For an emprty property. We've had numerous guys from City Power to sign off theat the property stand empty but still we got the bills. They even cut off the power from the adjoining properties(which we also own) because we refused to pay for the empty properties' w/l. To make a VERY long story short we've had endless problems with city power city of joburg whomever. We've had high ranking officials come through to verify all the info but still we have problems, time and time again they still send us a bill for an absolutely redicilous amount for a stand that is completely empty. We've just about given up but what else can we do if they keep threatening to cut off our busuniesses w/l (which is one of the adjoining properties) because of our refusal to pay for the empty properties w/l?- Arno
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