DaveyT Posted September 29 Share Posted September 29 Has anyone with COJ supply, with a 60A breaker being charged for a 80A breaker on their Network charge? COJ upped our Network charge in August 2023 to an 80A breaker for no reason at all (we still have the same breaker) This has resulted in us being charged R763.77 instead of R694.58 (before VAT) When we queried this at City Power (Midrand branch) they said we have been "Upgraded" to an 80A breaker & that they no longer do a 60A breaker Network charge, although it is clearly shown on their "Final Tariff for 2024-2025" on their website - what a rip-off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyT Posted October 2 Author Share Posted October 2 Anyone out there still being charged for a 60A beaker - Network charge of R694.58 per month? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobster. Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 13 hours ago, DaveyT said: Anyone out there still being charged for a 60A beaker - Network charge of R694.58 per month? Convert to pre-paid. There will be no change to your breaker. There will be changes to or a replacement of your meter. As part of the application process City Power will quote you (some meters just need a firmware change, others have to be replaced). You will be out of pocket for the cost of the meter. For a couple of months you will be paying off the post-paid balance AND feeding the meter. So you have to weather that storm. There is now a flat fee of R200 per month, but most domestic users will save a useful amount after the initial costs that I describe above. Also you no longer have to worry about those two flat fees (what's that? A grand a month now?) nor estimated readings. Check the tariff tables and do the sums. You will pay more unit, but you are saving about R750 a month on the fixed charges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyT Posted October 4 Author Share Posted October 4 Hello again Bobster thanks for reply. We did apply in June for a pre-pay meter & received the quote. However they told us that we have to pay the (disputed) outstanding amount on our COJ bill before they can start the process of converting to Pre-pay electricity. We have on ongoing dispute with our electricity account going back to around July 2023, presently standing at around R20K. About a year ago we contacted the Ombudsman to help resolve our dispute, but to date he has not got to our case saying they are still busy with cases from 2022! In March 2023 we had a new meter fitted, as our electricity supply had failed. Now before the meter was replaced we had been having Estimated readings for the previous 5 months. The following 3 months we still received Estimated reading on our monthly statements. So this makes it clear the reading was not recorded with whoever makes up the account (old meter reading when replaced) WE complained & they tried to reconcile the account but it came back even worse with dates that made no sense etc. About 3 months before our meter failed & was replaced I had fitted an energy meter at our DB to get some idea of our consumption before fitting a solar system. From this energy meter I picked-up that they were way over-estimating our consumption. Also from July 2022 (at time of COJ Tariff increase) they upped our Network charge to the 80A rate & have kept it there since then. WE have disputed this charge with them as-well, but they say because we have raised it with the Ombudsman we have to wait until the Ombudsman deals with it! These disputes have now racked up to around R20k (with interest & VAT included) This is why I posted the question on the Forum, to bring it to others attention & see if anyone else has had similar experiences. Hopefully I can get some more information before going to speak to Lawyers, as we all know how expensive that can be! Do I pursue the dispute (with lawyer as well as Ombudsman) or do I suck it up & pay the disputed amount & convert to pre-pay as soon as possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobster. Posted October 4 Share Posted October 4 Ah. Sorry. Yes, if you are in dispute with the City over any part of your bill they will not countenance pre-paid. Things are getting bad in the City. Disputes are nothing new. I had a dispute with them about... hmmm... 2011 or so. But at that time they at least sent an inspector out. She first disconnected the feed to what their records showed was my meter. My lights stayed on, but a neighbour's supply went down. She then traced the connection from the meter that was linked to my account. It was connected to the same neighbour. Now they suspected every meter in that street box and started tracing the line from each meter. They eventually figured out which property each meter was feeding and reconciled the accounts. I got a big credit. Other folks were less happy. The street box had been refitted, and the problem lay with the company contracted to do the job. This took some time, but the inspector was thorough and traced the cables from each meter in that street box then had to draw up a chart of which meters should be linked to each account. That's not 5 minutes work. So back then the wheels turned, but it took a while. I didn't mind. I told myself that they have to be thorough and get all the facts before they act. But now it seems the wheels don't turn at all. Have you tried speaking to your ward councillor? They cannot instruct City Power, but they may be able to move the case along or tell you who you can speak to. If you are going to go that route then make sure you have some good data to show them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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