*******ion within Lephalale Branch

To whom it may concern

I am directing my complaint to any one who can assist in investigating *******ion at the Lephalale branch.

The story begin in 2006 when my mother started to rent a guesthouse from Mr Swanepoel. She shares the ground with them but the ground is divided between them. She paid and installed her own pole and transformer.

The account was on her name. CHJS Stokes, she has Eskom accounts as proof that the account was on her name. For some reason the account was changed to the owners name without her permission.

She left it at that as she is renting the property. Jan 2017 R10 000 was added to her account for a transformer. But she didn’t have problems with her transformer, the owner which has their own pole, their transformer blew. We submitted a complaint to Eskom, until now no response have been received.

She has been without electricity without a year. On 20 February I called customer services and spoke to Moloko and Grace. My ref nr were: ********** 52, ********** 26. But explained that they do not understand why her electricity has been switched off, because according to the system she is R12000 in credit and the electricity should be on. 8 o clock that night her electricity was switched on, however the technician didn’t have a new breaker with him, so he installed an old breaker. The next morning when he wanted to leave to install the new breaker, they called him back and gave him a paper to show that the account is closed.

I have contacted customer service, they are unable to assist me as they can’t see who stopped the account, when the name was changed ext, I have to phone the branch or a branch in Limpopo because only they have access to the “full” system. Unfortunately Lephalale walk in branch system isn’t even on their system, so they can’t provide me with the number.

After phoning several numbers, I eventually got Riekie at the Lephalale branch to phone my number. She asked if my mother have proof that she paid the account, she rep**** yes, she has the till slips, but as the account is on Swanepoels name, the system automatically puts Swanepoels name on the slip. Anyone should now this. But she said that this doesn’t count as proof. So if a cash slip doesn’t count as proof then I don’t know why do we get cash slips?? She has lost her R12 000 credit with the other money that she has paid(transformer). She needs to go and open another account and in the meantime still be without electricity. To change the account back to her name she will need a permission letter from the owner( Swanepoel). And also due to the fact that they only have a verbal agreement, she has no foot to stand on.

I do however have a few questions.

· When the pole and transformer was installed and paid for by Mrs M Stokes, Eskom didn’t care if there was a written agreement or not. They received the money, account was opened. Why is it now a problem.

· How come she needs permission from owner to change the account to her name, if they were able to change it without her permission. I want to see the documentation that was submitted and where she signed giving permission for the account to be changed to their name.

· How come a transformer can be added to her account when the jobcard will clearly states that the pole number is different from her pole number. I want a copy of that jobcard.

· She should receive notice that the electricity is going to be switched off, at this moment they are switching on and off as they want to.

· There is no way that an account can be closed completely within less than 24 hours. I would like to see the proof of the documentation and when it was submitted.

· It states that as long as you can you slips it is valid proof of payment, there is no way that Eskom can refuse her slips as proof of payment. I want Eskom to send me a notification of what is accepted as proof of payment if a slip from a cashier is not accepted.

So all in all, in a nutshell, without her permission the account name was changed, a transformer not belonging to her was added to her account, her electricity was switched off without reason, the account was closed, her R12 000 is now lost. All of these points indicate that there is *******ion within Lephalale and now she is paying the price. And the worst part is, if someone is going to assist me, she is still laible for the pole fees for the more than a year eventhough Eskom made a mistake and caused a lot of discomfort, extra money, generator fees, petrol fees for generator, appliances damage.

I ask that someone please investigate this as this is a serious matter. I will not stop until this is resolved and the person responsible for this has been found.

I am sure that I am not the only person that is having these problems and I will gladly ask everyone in Lephalale to go to the police office to make affidavits with their problems with Eskom, and then I will contact the papers and Carte Blanche because this is robbing people and taking away our basic needs as electricity.

Please do not hesitate to contact me on ********** or email me on ********** for more information.

Looking forward to your assistance and response.

Melanie Stokes

Account information

DJH Swanepoel

Account nr: ********** 148

Meter nr: ********** 992076

Pole nr: VNN 462/2 Gedeelte 14, Marken 457LR

Tamboti

Marken

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