Caxton readers lament weekly about CoJ especially electricity

Week after week the readers of Caxton local rags write in to the editors to lament about the abuse of CoJ and it's representatives on the inhabitants of the City of Johannesburg.

The problem appears to be exasperated by CITY POWER not Eskom alone. City Power's pricing is a minefield to work through.

Willem Malherbe, delightfully likens treatment of CoJ inhabitants who are expected to accept and pay as follows, imagine:
"Buy a new car and it is only 60% operational...thank you very much here is your money (to the dealer).
Take a car for a service and only 60% of the job is done, but you pay with a smile.
Buy R1 000 groceries and take only 60% of the items home with you.
Buy a R100 petrol and the attendant only places R60 in your tank. (p.s. beware of the petrol attendant scam that IS taking place in the west rand. Check that the pump is on ZERO before the attendant starts!)
Order a restaurant meal and the waiter only arrives with 60% of the food ordered."

Upset from Roodepoort's humorous account on the query regarding the R226 monthly service charge on bill was met with:
"you pay R226 for external people to read your meter and to send your bill. The R29 is for future projects.
What future projects?
"No sir, we don't know."
Is fraud on of your future projects?
"I don't know Sir."

Pieter Groenewald "Dit help nie om getroue betalers te straf vir die verbruikers wat dit wel kan bekostig maar nie betaal nie"

and

"45% verhoging per jaar deur Eskom absurd. Somige besighede sal dit nie kan bekostig nie en dit sal werksverliese tot gevolg hè."

Journalist Adriaan Roets' article states: "electricity consumer whose monthly bill is now R 1 000, will be paying over R3 000 by March 2013. It's more than a 200 percent increase."

However, this does not take into account the middleman we all know and love CITY POWER, who do NOT appear to have to request NERSA approval to charge the electricity user and price they wish. What exactly is the value that City Power adds to users of ESKOM electricity.

Pieter Labuschagne places it all in prospective as a user of City Power's prepaid electricity meter. "The following statistics came to light:
~ cost of units purchased July 2007-June 2008 = 43 cents per kwh/unit excl VAT
~ cost of units purchased July 2008-June 2009 = 68 cents per kwh/unit excl VAT (58% inc)
~ cost of units purchased July 2009 to date = 81 cents per kwh/unit excl VAT (19% inc)
It is proclaimed that we pay around 33 cents per KWH. With the proposed increased of 45% from 2010 to 2013, citizens will be paying around 88 centrs per kwh/unit.

I am NOW paying 81 cents per kwh/unit! Are prepaid customers being discriminated against?"
This is not the 1st complaint I have come across regarding City Powers lack of transparency regarding their pricing SEE What is going on at City Power. I am not sure whether Pieter's calculations include or exclude the famous Demand Side Management DSM levy.

Mike Moriarty DA Spokesman warns "I have been informed that the long-awaited Programme Phakama is about to be launched as a pilot in the Roodepoort area. This programme is supposed to resolve Johannesburg Billing System, which has been problematic for over a decade. This despite several failed attempts to fix it. I have no confidence in the council's ability to roll out a new computer system without mistakes of the largest kind. Please watch your municipal bills closely over the the next few months. Billing errors will come. I hope the council will prove me wrong."