• The City of Johannesburg and City Power have disconnected the Damelin private college campus in Randburg.
• It is alleged that Damelin owes Johannesburg R2 million in unpaid electrical bills.
• Damelin joins many more businesses and entities across the city to have been disconnected on the grounds of alleged outstanding bills, including the Church of Scientology.

As part of its Johannesburg-wide outstanding revenue collection operations, City Power – the city’s electricity infrastructure company – has today disconnected the power from the Randburg campus of private college Damelin.

Further, City Power alleges that it came to the decision due to R2 million in outstanding power bills that the college owes the company. This afternoon, City Power officials arrived at the Damelin campus to explain to the college’s management the reason they were to be disconnected.

According to a post on X, City Power conducted a level 2 cut-off of the Damelin campus. The City claims that customers in Randburg owe it R42 million.

According to the official City of Johannesburg Disconnections Customer Information Guide (PDF), a level 2 cut-off is carried out after a Final Demand notice is given by the company to the consumer in question, in this case Damelin, about outstanding payments.

This is conducted after a pre-termination notice is given if you fail to pay your electricity after 30 days of being billed. If payment is still not handed out, a level 1 cut-off is carried out where officials will simply switch off the electricity at a lockable distribution box stationed nearby.

Meanwhile, a level 2 cut-off is more serious where the circuit breaker will be removed completely. “A second-level electricity disconnection normally follows within days of an illegal consumption inspection has established that an illegal electricity connection has been made,” writes the City in its guide.

If consumption persists, officials will apparently carry out a level 3 cut-off, where important electrical infrastructure is permanently removed and the customer’s account moved to a special credit control process. If the account is settled after level 3 is carried out, it can take up to 21 days for officials to re-establish the connection.

We have reached out to Damelin for comment on the allegations and will update this article as soon as it is received.

The City of Johannesburg, and by extension City Power, has been on a war path across the city, targeting defaulting customers en masse. In February, City Power cut the electricity of the Church of Scientology in Randburg after it allegedly defaulted on R2.2 million worth of power bills.

News24 reported at that time the church denied it owed any money to City Power and that it had illegal connections at its location, despite a level 2 power cut-off carried out by the company. City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena told News24 that the company would reestablish the church’s electricity once it paid the city a portion of what it owed. Reportedly, this would be a first installment of R500 000, paid in supposed “good faith.”

Last month, City Power conducted a Midrand-wide cut-off operation targeting customers with outstanding accounts, and reportedly cut off businesses in the area that owed a combined R13 million.

This reportedly included the New Model Private College, the Vaal Value Warehouse offices and the Leopard Rock housing complex.

City Power has publically and outspokenly adopted the “No Pay, No Service” motto. It said in May that it would pre-check areas and if 70 percent of customers are non-paying, it would not conduct repairs in said area.

[Image – City Power on X]