Seals intact so we were compliant and this was all their fault, but not worth fighting. If they had hit me with the real value I owed then yes I would have fought the penalty.
Last week the electricity supplier cut off power to my Durban house which was a bit confusing. The reason behind this was I apparently owed them a penalty payment of R15K or $750 for not having the Johannesburg house connected to the grid.
This was not from a lack of trying as I have systematically reported this fact every few months for the last few years. I was never going to fight the penalty mainly because that would be even dumber as R15K is a bargain for the number of years we paid nothing. I found out this was the case with the previous owners so it is not just when I bought the property and has been going on for way longer than I expected. Taking that into account I would estimate the real amount owed would be in the region of R750K or $37.5K.
This is why sometimes you fight the smart fight and otherwise walk away when you have dodged a bullet. Some said I should have just kept quiet after the 3rd time I had reported this, but I knew the longer this went on the bigger the problem could become. Some how someone in the past did something illegal and this was not highlighted in the sale of the property as the electricity bill showed a zero balance. This is the one certificate we need to check before buying any property as otherwise we are responsible for any outstanding arrears.
I never counted on them switching off my secondary property in Durban and this could be down to us having solar in our Johannesburg home. I do not think they are that smart though and just selected the first property listed under my name. When you consider it has taken them longer than 4 years to rectify this problem and no one to even question why this property has no electricity bills is kind of nuts.
I know there is plenty of skullduggery going on with electricity meters as I have in the past been approached by those doing the meter readings to "jippo" the system by making the meter run slower. As tempting as that may sound I have always rejected these types of offers. I know others who have gone this route and maybe this is part of the problem in this country with higher than normal increases each year. You can see the catch 22 from households who cannot afford the new rates and will go the illegal route reducing the overall revenue of the electricity company. They are most likely earning less than they were 5 years ago even with the prices having doubled over that same period.
Well we have solar now and I am at least "legal" for the time being paying my electricity utility bill until they come up with another scheme on how to penalise me for having solar and using the grid. As crazy as that may sound that time is coming as they are desperately seeking any form of revenue they can find.