{"id":15317,"date":"2026-01-10T14:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T14:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/15317\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T14:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T14:05:12","slug":"da-accuses-city-power-of-targeting-joburg-residents-with-solar-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/15317\/","title":{"rendered":"DA accuses City Power of targeting Joburg residents with solar power"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\tCity Power announced that customers with solar installations will be converted to postpaid billing accounts\n\t<\/p>\n

The DA is accusing City Power of targeting Johannesburg residents who have installed solar power in their houses.<\/p>\n

This comes after City Power released a statement earlier this week notifying residents that it has extended the deadline for the conversion of prepaid residential customers to the postpaid billing system.<\/p>\n

The conversion process was meant to conclude at the end of December but has now been extended to 30 June 2026.<\/p>\n

Conversion of meters for solar installations<\/p>\n

City Power also announced that customers with solar installations, who are currently on prepaid meters, will also be converted to postpaid billing accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis measure is necessary to ensure accurate accounting of electricity imports and exports, improve network management, and align solar PV customers with the appropriate billing framework,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: City Power extends prepaid meter conversion deadline for non\u2011paying customers<\/a><\/p>\n

The DA claims this has caused \u201cwidespread panic\u201d.<\/p>\n

City Power accused of \u2018power grab\u2019<\/p>\n

One of the issues concerning the DA is that City Power is no longer stating how many customers are affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn November 2025, City Power stated that 2 318 prepaid customers would be converted to postpaid billing by 31 December. The DA now calls on City Power to clarify whether this extension applies only to those customers, or whether the scope has been expanded,\u201d said DA Johannesburg Shadow MMC for Infrastructure Services Tyrell Meyers.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: City Power welcomes arrest of interns, fake manager over electricity extortion<\/a><\/p>\n

The other concern is the inclusion of solar users with prepaid meters.<\/p>\n

Meyers accused City Power of attempting a \u201cpower grab\u201d against residents with solar.<\/p>\n

He suggested the move comes because the City of Johannesburg is making less money from electricity due to many residents installing solar energy systems to safeguard themselves against the city\u2019s \u201cfailure to provide reliable electricity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the DA supports efforts to reduce revenue losses and curb illegal connections, there is no justification for targeting compliant solar users. Instead, the City should be partnering with private solar producers to stabilise the grid and reduce reliance on Eskom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

City Power claims it\u2019s improving billing inefficiencies<\/p>\n

In City Power\u2019s statement, spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the conversion of meters is meant to curb revenue losses, address illegal connections and tampered meters, and improve billing accuracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince assuming the billing function, we have been hard at work stabilising and improving the billing system and methods to enhance customer experience and close historical revenue gaps caused by billing inefficiencies,\u201d Mangena said.<\/p>\n

Regarding solar panels, Mangena said the conversion to postpaid accounts is necessary to allow City Power to monitor their electricity use and generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis measure is necessary to ensure accurate accounting of electricity imports and exports, improve network management and align solar PV customers with the appropriate billing framework,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Suspect arrested in Bryanston building hijacking case [PICS]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Power announced that customers with solar installations will be converted to postpaid billing accounts The DA is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[1288,10050,9470,7884,10051,131],"class_list":{"0":"post-15317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-city-of-johannesburg-coj","9":"tag-city-power","10":"tag-democratic-alliance-da","11":"tag-electricity","12":"tag-solar-power","13":"tag-south-africa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}