Many business people and residents with Tshwane purchasing power meters may be without power supply due to delays in the allocation of purchasing power payments. Additional pressure due to the city’s financial year-end was blamed for the backlog.
On Friday, the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce sent an urgent notice to the city management of the Tshwane municipality to intervene.
“On an inquiry by a member of the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce, a Tshwane employee made it appear that payments made since June 29 for purchasing power have not yet been allocated,” says Fergus Ferguson, chairman of the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce. “It is incomprehensible that a city like Tshwane’s systems are apparently not automated. The possible consequence is that businesses and residents whose power units are currently low may have their power supply interrupted if the allocation problem has not been resolved by then, with great damage and losses for businesses.”
According to Ferguson, the issue was reported to the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce by one of the chamber’s members on Friday and it was immediately escalated. “We call on any business in Pretoria to urgently check their power units and if they suspect that they may be affected by this problem, the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce by e-mail at (email protected) to inform about it.”
“Although the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce has only praise for the city management’s efforts to collect overdue bills, business people and residents who pay for power certainly cannot be left in the dark until the allocations are made.”
