Unisa Florida Campus was on the brink of having its power cut off when it settled its R2.6 million debt with City Power yesterday. Last month, the institution that owed the Johannesburg power supplier over R5 million made a payment of R2.5 million and a further R2.6 million yesterday just before the planned disconnection. 

INSTITUTION ON LIST OF CUTT OFFS

Unisa was on the list of the eight businesses whose power supply was going to be cut off this week during the Roodepoort delivery centre revenue centre operation. City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena confirmed that the institution ignored several intervention measures, including a pre-termination notice, to settle its debt. "The institution eventually paid R2.5 million earlier in the month and another R2.6 million on Wednesday to settle the debt in time and avoid facing a disconnection,' said Mangena. The operation was conducted on Thursday in collaboration with law enforcement agencies, with the aim of recouping a total of R29 million owed by customers.

BUSINESSES IN ROODEPOORT OWE CITY POWER OVER R400M

Mangena said that City Power is owed R400 million by Roodepoort customers. "The worrying factor is that a number of businesses in the community are not defaulting on payments but are connected illegally to the network and bypass meters," Mangena said. He said two other businesses in the area were also cut off during the operation for owing R6 million each. Mangena added that one of the businesses owing R6 million was found to have connected electricity illegally. He pointed out that the area was also plagued by vandalism and theft, which results in high costs and material replacement for City Power. "While we appreciate the strides made towards the protection of infrastructure by the community, the high rate of non-payment of services is also crippling our resources," he said.