Six months after paying Eskom R10,166 an East London family is still living in darkness following incomplete work done by the power utility.
All Kendrick and Nastassja Knock say they have received for their money are empty promises and, on Monday, a demand for a further R77,000 if they want to be connected.
The Knocks, who are based in Kwelerha village, this week told the Daily Dispatch of their frustration in their new home and business, and how they had been sent from pillar to post since September last year.
“We first applied for the connection in 2017 but they quoted us for a low power connection and we wanted the stronger connection. In 2018 we applied again and we got a quotation of R8,840, but we failed to make the payment on time so they gave us a new quote after the VAT had increased, and said that the new amount would be R10,166,” said Kendrick, adding that they were told the process would not take longer than three months.
“After making the payment every time I called Eskom in Beacon Bay I was told they were waiting for material. We were told in December we would get connected as the application had been allocated to a contractor. I started going there physically, and in February a contractor came and tried to connect us to our neighbour’s poles. Our neighbour removed some wiring, saying Eskom had no right connecting to his poles,” said Nastassja, who said their initial suggestion of connecting from the community hall or school poles had been turned down by Eskom. They were told Eskom connected to the nearest pole.
The family runs a store from their yard but said they could not open their liquor side of the business as they had no power to connect the refrigerators.
“Another team was sent out, and we were told that surveying was not properly done last year by the same Eskom. Another contractor was sent to connect us, but he also left without connecting us. It has just been a mess. Earlier this month the first surveyor came back and said we would need to connect from the poles we suggested in the first place,” Nastassja said.
Eskom spokesperson Zama Mpondwana said the electricity connection application for the Knock family was still under consideration due to changes the family was aware of.
Mpondwana said: “In preparation for the revised quotation, the family was advised on 12 March 2019 that our technical investigation is being conducted in order to revise their initial quotation based on the new route that the Eskom line will now follow.”
He did not answer other questions around the alleged poor service by the utility...