Faulty Pre-Paid Electricity Meter (City of Cape Town)

[Sigint]

Update:

COCT Electricity team came after I reported a power outage (yes, I lied but can you blame me?)....


Soooooooooooo..... the keypad in our flat is connected to the “prepaid unit” in the complex garage (which is where the invertor is) and it appears the unit was “bridged”. No idea what that means but tomorrow morning 9am they are booked to come replace it.....

Now call me pessimistic but I will wait until 9:15 and then let you know if all worked out!!

Sleep well!!

Get whoever replaces anything to issue you with a C of C.
Good luck

 

[FGRL]

Invertor? Your have another 220VAC power source?
Transfer switch?

Sorry - invertor should read isolator....

 

[FGRL]

this is your issue
play around with the temp you can put it lower 40 - 45( maybe even lower), it's a tankless instant hot water heater so you don't have to worry about legionella and the temp i suggested can give you a decent hot shower . yes its a heavy user but it's actually might be more efficient than regular geyser since it only heats up when you use it so no need to heat up a full tank of water that you might not need. of course it might suck when you have to shower with no power. also the hot water never ends so if you like my daughter who only gets out the shower when the water is cold that can cost you a pretty penny,

also just occurred to me you sure none of your hot water taps are leaking , wasting hot water and intern electricity for nothing?

Double checked for leaks etc and tested with mains off and it appears the issue is with the “bridging” in the actual unit connected to the complex DB (or whatever that may be called).

 

[FGRL]

Send us a pic of your DB panel;. See Earth leakage breaker etc.
Those Instant water heaters need a seporate 45A breaker and Earth Leakage on both Live and Neutral.

Will do so in the AM, thanks!

 

[FGRL]

Morning All!!

It appears a few units in the estate have had tampering with their prepaid meters..... the issue has now been handed over to the risk department at COCT and I have to wait for an Engineer and Inspector to come and review and advise the way forward (re: penalties etc).

It appears I won’t get a refund for the excessive units purchased between 28/03/19 and when it’s fixed!

 

[Marsie27]

So you do have dodgy types in your estate after all! And you are footing the bill - you must be highly annoyed. Maybe time to think of moving.

 

[Steamy Tom]

Morning All!!

It appears a few units in the estate have had tampering with their prepaid meters..... the issue has now been handed over to the risk department at COCT and I have to wait for an Engineer and Inspector to come and review and advise the way forward (re: penalties etc).

It appears I won’t get a refund for the excessive units purchased between 28/03/19 and when it’s fixed!

called it

anyway at least imo you shouldn't be penalised since you reported it?

 

[FGRL]

So you do have dodgy types in your estate after all! And you are footing the bill - you must be highly annoyed. Maybe time to think of moving.

And I only just got here 6 months ago!!!

 

[FGRL]

The

called it

anyway at least imo you shouldn't be penalised since you reported it?

I would certainly hope not.....

 

[Marsie27]

Perhaps you might want to get hold of your landlord/the agent and let him/her know. I'd think the trustees of the Body Corporate need to be made aware of what appears to be criminal activity.

 

[FGRL]

Perhaps you might want to get hold of your landlord/the agent and let him/her know. I'd think the trustees of the Body Corporate need to be made aware of what appears to be criminal activity.

Called Estate Agent and she said she will call them and also said that she will ask about refunding me once all sorted!

 

[isie]

Morning All!!

It appears a few units in the estate have had tampering with their prepaid meters..... the issue has now been handed over to the risk department at COCT and I have to wait for an Engineer and Inspector to come and review and advise the way forward (re: penalties etc).

It appears I won’t get a refund for the excessive units purchased between 28/03/19 and when it’s fixed!

yikes thats hectic , so basically some thieving neighbour was tapping into your electricity.

 

[Swa]

yikes thats hectic , so basically some thieving neighbour was tapping into your electricity.

Which begs the question why not just bridge their own.

 

[FGRL]

yikes thats hectic , so basically some thieving neighbour was tapping into your electricity.

I wish I knew what was going on - all has been fine since we moved here (6 months ago) and it just seems like something went wrong somewhere. If I understand the Inspector correctly it appears more than 1 unit has been tampered with so perhaps it’s more sabotage than theft of electricity?

 

[FGRL]

Which begs the question why not just bridge their own.

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too - it just doesn’t make sense and I truly wonder if it’s possible that someone thought they were “fixing” their own meter and it turned out to be ours? They really suck though because it’s tripled my consumption!!

 

[Steamy Tom]

deniability of course, if many are tampered how can they pinpoint one person

 

[Marsie27]

MrsGreen, did they give you any idea how long till the inspector et al arrive? And you keep your neighbours in hot showers and hot meals till then, or what? Just as well you noticed and took action when you did.

 

[John Tempus]

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too - it just doesn’t make sense and I truly wonder if it’s possible that someone thought they were “fixing” their own meter and it turned out to be ours? They really suck though because it’s tripled my consumption!!

They will have to issue you a report as to estimate since when it was tampered with. If the extra cost you were billed since the tampering is of any significant value to you then you should open a criminal case yourself if the estate doesn't do it and by opening criminal case you have a legal route to reimbursement or at least finding the original criminals.

Of course if the value is not that much then all this drama is kinda pointless.

 

[FGRL]

MrsGreen, did they give you any idea how long till the inspector et al arrive? And you keep your neighbours in hot showers and hot meals till then, or what? Just as well you noticed and took action when you did.

I called every possible number I could find related to Electricity and eventually found my way to the “Revenue” department that does the investigations. They humoured me and assured me Monday 9am they would arrive and replace the meter and then take up the penalty with the Body Corporate.

 

[FGRL]

They will have to issue you a report as to estimate since when it was tampered with. If the extra cost you were billed since the tampering is of any significant value to you then you should open a criminal case yourself if the estate doesn't do it and by opening criminal case you have a legal route to reimbursement or at least finding the original criminals.

Of course if the value is not that much then all this drama is kinda pointless.

My mood currently is “fu*kit” I will live with the R500 loss for the past 5 days.... sometimes it’s just too much of an effort to bother!! BUT should it not be sorted Monday then I may just have a bit of a fanny attack and freak out at all and sundry!!