coj off-grid process

[ffiredup]

They are doing a lot of underhanded tricks to extract money. When I was at COJ last time, a guy was there because he kept getting termination notices as his due date kept changing every month. They forced him to pay a fine for each notice.

Same way the moment I completed my application for offgrid, estimated electricity billing came back. The amount of hate I have for COJ in particular cant be measured. The moment I start getting issues with water, I am sinking a borehole and cutting that also. Even if there is little ROI in it, I just dont want to feed this gvt money anymore. If there was legal ways to pay zero tax, I would.

I even want an EV so that I dont pay the fuel tax to these people which makes up half our fuel price. They deserve nothing as all they do is squeeze you for everything and give nothing in return.

I feel you on this!!

 

[ffiredup]

Someone on here said they use it as interest free credit. They will rock up after 1 year or 2 and they read the meter. All the while they would have enjoyed your money with no interest. And you get it back when its worth less (they are basically holding on to your current higher value money now which will be worth less in a year etc.).

Don't know why the courts haven't ruled yet on this practice as illegal forcing customer fair treatment? !! Very frustrating!! Would be a good project for OUTA to take on..?

 

[denmendez65]

Well I got the new statement and still had the bill…estimate.

Went to COJ at 7:30 and they gave me a letter to tell CP to terminate the account. Got to CP at 8 and they fortunately had the job card for the work done.

It should be now 100% done. Will have to wait for the next statement to see if it is removed but they assured me it is removed. They will refund me the estimates done also for this month and last month which is about 5k.

 

[Lupus]

Well I got the new statement and still had the bill…estimate.

Went to COJ at 7:30 and they gave me a letter to tell CP to terminate the account. Got to CP at 8 and they fortunately had the job card for the work done.

It should be now 100% done. Will have to wait for the next statement to see if it is removed but they assured me it is removed. They will refund me the estimates done also for this month and last month which is about 5k.

I mean it's not like they have meter readers to come read meters... Which was the reason they went with pre-paid in the first place.

 

[denmendez65]

I mean it's not like they have meter readers to come read meters... Which was the reason they went with pre-paid in the first place.

I actually have a sneaky suspicion they rotate areas for meter readings. I went about 9 months with estimates. Then 7 months with actual readings. Then it flipped the last 2 months to estimated. Others on the WA group had said they went to estimates when I was on actual, others have been getting estimated readings for the last 2 years now.

Now just imagine you have solar and have used say 100kWh in a whole year but are paying for 800kWh consumption every month. You will easily give COJ 50 to 60k of your take home pay. Money that could have been getting you interest or fastracking your homeloan/car loan etc.

 

[ffiredup]

Well I got the new statement and still had the bill…estimate.

Went to COJ at 7:30 and they gave me a letter to tell CP to terminate the account. Got to CP at 8 and they fortunately had the job card for the work done.

It should be now 100% done. Will have to wait for the next statement to see if it is removed but they assured me it is removed. They will refund me the estimates done also for this month and last month which is about 5k.

That's (cautiously) great, one less govt entity to deal with until they come with some other scheme, but for now, some breathing space.
I'm proceeding along your route, so what was the lag time from when you submitted your off grid appln papers to meter removal? By the way the application asks for type interruption, its L3 correct?

 

[denmendez65]

That's (cautiously) great, one less govt entity to deal with until they come with some other scheme, but for now, some breathing space.
I'm proceeding along your route, so what was the lag time from when you submitted your off grid appln papers to meter removal? By the way the application asks for type interruption, its L3 correct?

I started the process mid December. Meter only got removed on the 19th of Feb after at least 10 visits (I kid you not). But the issue was the holidays, system being down and having been given the wrong form to fill. I attached all the documents I needed including the form for doing it. You can halve the visits by just having the right form and the documents required.

Will attach as screenshots. Dont want my info out there

 

[denmendez65]

I started the process mid December. Meter only got removed on the 19th of Feb after at least 10 visits (I kid you not). But the issue was the holidays, system being down and having been given the wrong form to fill. I attached all the documents I needed including the form for doing it. You can halve the visits by just having the right form and the documents required.

Will attach as screenshots. Dont want my info out there

 

[ghaye]

Under the "reason for isolation" I would just put "service no longer required".

 

[warwickw]

Many thanks for this, did you get that correct form from COJ or CP ? Please remind us what the fee was you had to pay.

 

[denmendez65]

Under the "reason for isolation" I would just put "service no longer required".

The guy at COJ was insistent I state I have solar.

 

[denmendez65]

Many thanks for this, did you get that correct form from COJ or CP ? Please remind us what the fee was you had to pay.

COJ had it. But I had to get it from Region B in Randburg, as Region C in Roodepoort is the one that gave me the wrong one...they had no idea such a form existed, supposedly.

The fee was 1250 initially and then changed to 3k afterwards. Not sure why they revised the fee, but I paid 3k give or take with VAT.

 

[GMAN03]

COJ had it. But I had to get it from Region B in Randburg, as Region C in Roodepoort is the one that gave me the wrong one...they had no idea such a form existed, supposedly.

The fee was 1250 initially and then changed to 3k afterwards. Not sure why they revised the fee, but I paid 3k give or take with VAT.

Are you actually based in Region B or Region C? I'm technically Region C so I'm worried that Region B will send me to Region C and then they'll end up giving me the wrong form.

 

[denmendez65]

Are you actually based in Region B or Region C? I'm technically Region C so I'm worried that Region B will send me to Region C and then they'll end up giving me the wrong form.

I am actually Region C, but was being sneaky going to Region B. Region B is way, way more competent than C. I took advantage of the fact that C was telling me I belong to B, so I went with it even though B said I am C, and the statement says I am C. There is also no queue at B I have gone at least 4 times there and I just walk in and out. C is a disaster with you having to stand outside and spending some 2 hours there.

Just go to B and ask for the form. The people there were quite helpful and knew what they were doing. C I struggled constantly with them, claiming to be ignorant of most things.

Region B Citypower was also very helpful and accelerated the process. Region C CP only went once, and it wasnt too bad, also.

Try B and feign ignorance like you don't know you belong to C. Just don't bring it up.

 

[denmendez65]

Are you actually based in Region B or Region C? I'm technically Region C so I'm worried that Region B will send me to Region C and then they'll end up giving me the wrong form.

Also, if going to C, I recommend not going during the billing period like now. Wait for between 27th of each month till the 7th give or take. The queue disappears. Then you can also just walk in and out if using C or forced to use C. The process will be much quicker. But get the form from B first.

 

[ffiredup]

I started the process mid December. Meter only got removed on the 19th of Feb after at least 10 visits (I kid you not). But the issue was the holidays, system being down and having been given the wrong form to fill. I attached all the documents I needed including the form for doing it. You can halve the visits by just having the right form and the documents required.

Will attach as screenshots. Dont want my info out there

Hey thanks for this info and below etc.. very useful, cheers mates!!

 

[warwickw]

Would be great if they had the forms on their website so you can download and complete nicely. But alas that would be asking too much I suppose.

 

[denmendez65]

Would be great if they had the forms on their website so you can download and complete nicely. But alas that would be asking too much I suppose.

They have every other form except that one to download unfortunately

 

[ffiredup]

So these are the forms I got last week from coj reg c at roodepoort theatre site..cheers

 

[denmendez65]

That application for electricity supply form is the one they also gave me. It’s the wrong form.

The others are new to me.