Africa-Press – South-Africa. After the Bryanston Sports Club’s lights were disconnected by City Power as part of a drive to recoup funds, its chair said the power utility could have done things differently.
Chair Nick Keene said he did not appreciate that the power utility did not serve them with a pre-termination notice.
He said City Power never afforded them the opportunity to negotiate.
“You’re tarnishing our name, running around on Twitter saying we don’t pay our dues. You have not given us a fair opportunity to remediate,” he said.
On Friday, 10 February 2023, City Power was on the hunt for businesses and residents who had not paid for electricity in Randburg.
With no visit and disconnection notice, City Power arrived at the Bryanston Sports Club, ready to cut its power off.
City Power spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, said the sports club owed the entity R2.3 million.
However, Keene said that this was not entirely true.
He said:
Keene told News24 that there is an issue of which they (Bryanston Sports Club) were not aware.
He said that Bryanston Sports Club shares the space with a corporate company.
To their surprise, they share a meter with this company, of which they were unaware.
“The meter that City Power disconnected is connected to the club, but it’s not registered in our name,” said Keene.
He added that they have not received any invoices over the years.
“Somewhere along the line, the meter was changed to [that corporate company’s] name, thus we were not aware of this problem.
“This meter appears to be feeding our main club building,” he said.
When asked about the repayment plan, Keene said City Power will try to work out the amounts to be paid between the club and the company by determining who owns what.
Keene said:
Bryanston Sports Club currently has an account registered with City Power, which they pay monthly.
Mangena said the meter supplying power to the sports club, had an account number and name that were recorded under the corporate company.
“Upon the disconnection, the customer for the sports club provided an old account number that has been inactive for over five years, meaning that we are not billing electricity. The sport club and [corporate company] are not sharing the same point of supply, as the [corporate company] was not affected by the disconnection performed on Friday and they have a different meter number on site which is up to date,” he said.
“City Power is busy updating the accounts, but technically the R2.3 million is due from the sports club, as it is their consumption based on the above.”
He said they have promised to look into the matter.
“We have engaged with the customer after the cut-off operation where they expressed their displeasure. We stand by our actions, that the disconnection was correct as the meter that was disconnected is the meter through which our electricity passes, and which is in arrears and hasn’t been paying for usage.”
Keene said that they received a notification from City Power that they should expect their power to be reconnected soon.
City Power was set to meet Bryanston Sports Club on Tuesday, 13 February, to discuss further payment arrangements.
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