Fine refunded, actions taken after power tampering accusations

<p>On Wednesday 4 Nov 2016 my residence’s power was cut off and I was issued a fine. An arrogant technician worked on the power box in the street and accused me of bypassing the the connection. He also said I can expect many thousands of Rand in back billing and that I should get a lawyer.</p> <p>I've always paid my prepaid electricity but he were not interested to check the meter in the house, to see that there is power loaded on the system. I had to go to the municipality to first pay to get anything done. My power was only switched on by Friday evening.</p> <p>On the same Wednesday I later went to the Department Energy to show them my prepaid power purchases from an internet banking printout. I also explained that a few years ago with the meter installation I remember there were problems. After loading the voucher pin our power would not switch on. After logging a call, a technician came and worked on the box, and afterwards told us our power will now work while they sort out the problem. A few days later we got a call to say we can continue as normal. I suspect that the connection was bypassed as a temporary measure at the time, and was never disconnected. However, we always bough power as soon as we noticed the unit in the house indicating it's running low. Another thing was that the boxes in the street had no locks, so anybody could tamper there. Still I were told by the technician it was my responsibility.</p> <p>I mailed Mr Johan Oudegeest and explained my story, and he said he will look into the matter. Subsequently my fine has been paid back (creditted on my water and lights account), and the power boxes in the whole street has been replaced with new lockable units. It’s stil not fair what I went through, but there are people like Mr Oudegeest that are trying hard to make a difference.</p>