No electricity for a year and Eskom charged me for meter recoding

I am unable to load electricity on the meter and Eskom agent advised that it is due to the box still on KRM1. I enquired with Eskom when there was an announcement to recode metres and the Agent said the box could not be recoded as it was not in use and not connected. The metre could not be recoded because there was no electricity in the house since May 2024 when Eskom removed the cable and only came back this year in April.

I logged a call in May 2024 as the box was unsafe where it was and Eskom came to move the box to a safer place. They could not put it back as they said that the cable was short and they needed to The new ref was issued on 25 February 2025 (***) and they still maintained that I cannot recode the meter since it was not in use.

I phoned Eskom every week day following up but without any assistance. Another ref *** was issued for complaint on 01 April 2025. On the same week, Eskom technicians came to install the cable. On Monday I bought electricity but the box refused it. I logged a call *** and I was told that I will receive 40 numbers to put on the box and I never received them. Today the agent tried to assist me and she told me that I cannot buy electricity because I have been penalized R6000 for the box that is still on KMR1.

This was not my fault, the delay was on Eskom's side. I could not recode the meter because the meter was not connected for a year. I tried my best to enquire with Eskom if there were other means for me to be able to recode to avoid penalty and I was informed that there was nothing I could do on my side since there was no box nor power.

Please advise on what I should do as I am not willing to pay that huge amount when I was willing and ready to comply but Eskom failed to fix the problem they left.