Eskom
Reviews and Complaints

Eskom is charging my mom a pensioner for late payment and overdue accounts even though the account is paid 10 days before the due date. The account is always paid in full long before the due date and my mom has been paying extra. These charges are being added to the account since April 2014 and no one can explain this. I have called the customer services and even gone into the walk-in center for an explanation and even spoken to the supervisor but nobody can explain these charges to me and every month it is being billed without fail. What can I do as ESKOM consultants are not qualified to deal with this matter.

I live in the east rand in Primrose Germiston. My landlord got a prepaid electricity meter for us on the 27/08/2014 and we went to buy a R100 electricity and the shock we got when we saw that you just get 34 units for a R100, it is R3 a unit. I really thought that prepaid electricity will be more cost effective and it is better for Eskom and the municipalities to have more people using prepaid, but now it is day light robbery how much they charge for electricity, you know people need electricity and now you charge so much for a unit, what about a person that just earn a clerks salary and still must pay there rent and other commitments, food and petrol to get to work. It is a shame what Eskom and the municipalities is charging for prepaid electricity where it makes life easier for them and they have the surety that they get paid, because you must buy the electricity before you can use it. It just shows you what they think about the people that must buy the electricity, nothing they just care about themselves.

we have been without electricity since Sunday 05/07/2014 and we have been calling eskom since Sunday but nothing has been done and it's only a few houses that are affected, today 09/07/2014 an eskom vehicle went passed our house and when we stopped and asked them for assistance they told that they didn't come to help us they just going pass when you try calling the eskom call centre they tell you that someone will call us back

We have been calling eskom revonia for the past 17 days now with regards to our electricity being off and due to your staff unproductive response we have had no success, we are still in the dark and unable to cook and maintain the house.

We have realised that our query has been untouched and as a result there of we see it best to contact our lawyers.

We have been calling with regards to our box being faulty and your people done nothing but send useless staff to fiddle with it and leave with no feed back and my mother has been keeping reference numbers and due to age she has lost then and we had to pay a fine which we did, and no one has come since to fix our box and switch on electricity. I would hate for this matter to go public.

Kind revert back with a positive response to this complaint.
Ref: [protected]

I received an Eskom Electricity invoice that was higher than the norm. The invoice was calculated on estimated meter readings. Their argument is that they could not gain access to my property to do the readings. I find this laughable, because in the past the readings has been taken. How did they then do these readings, unless they estimated, since I’ve been a client of Eskom from November 2009?
According to a Mr. Christo Jacobs the people contracted to do the readings were at my property, but could not gain access to do the readings.
Hence they estimated the readings. According to them it happened quite a few times. But yet, the current invoice shows an actual reading. Again my question is how did they get the reading this time?! There’s always been a nanny at home that looks after my kids. So for them to say there was no one is incomprehensible.
If they had a problem with the readings the 1st few times, they should have made arrangements with me to find an alternative solution.
This original billing amount is R2774.06. The estimations was calculated from 17/04/2012 to 17/01/2013.
The current amount is 2571.32.
Their solution is for me to pay the arrears amount over a payment plan for the next 3 months. I refuse to pay the full amount, as I feel they were the ones that did not do their job properly. And now I’m stuck paying a massive bill! I’m prepared to pay if a sufficient discounted amount is negotiated.

These are the people I spoke to when trying to resolve my billing complaint:
Sarah Adriaanse(Customer Services) – [protected]
William Nathan(Customer Services Manager) – [protected](I could never get a hold of him)
A Mr. Lamini(Senior Clerk in Customer Services) – [protected]
Christo Jacobs(Senior Manager in Customer Services/Meter readings) – [protected]

Regards
Hilton Titus
[protected]
Hilton.[protected]@sanlam.co.za

I went to the office in mokopane of eskom to apply for electric to my home 2006 even now I don't have electric I am using paraffin and candles like old days is like I never voted in south Africa I still have one of their latest ref number 344 35023 I don't know who to tell please can you help me

I have been smsed a bill of R7000 after I have been paying each month. The problem started in February when they issued me a bill of ove R3000 for a small holding our flat is not big and we only have about 4 plugs working. We then did a check on our reading and they where issuing a wrong reading number that did not exist and our billings ever since has gone up from R400 to about R2000 a month. We have asked for a audit or investigation and is still waiting. With the bill rising! I can not afford such bills its insane even if we pay it doesn't get deducted from the main ammount and just risses.

On the sms the state over R7000 (heart attack for me) bill little less and email dif amount. I am so confused! FIN7118158 this is all I have to go by. And no further reaction from them

Nerine

[protected]

No electricity for the past 48 hrs, we phoned eskom since tuesday ( 07/08/2012) and they have been giving us countless ref numbers. We still have no electricity, they are not helping at all. I am up to date with my accounts.

Well another cold bath i had to take this morning. I've been without electricity since last week Wednesday. Been calling Eskom and getting countless ref numbers with no assistance. The price we have to pay for staying in the location, i can bet you this will NEVER happen in the suburbs. Everytime we call them they tell us that they are aware of the proble, aware yes and doing absolutely NOTHING about it. For 6days i've had to take a cold bath in this cold, i have no idea what a cup of hot coffee tastes like anymore. I stay with my mother who has sugar and has to eat. but i can't cook for her since we have no electricity. I've had to take her to the doc so many times. Well done Eskom, please do pat yourselves in the back, you know how to make a person suffer! WELL DONE! THE PRICE ONE HAS TO PAY FOR ESKOM NOT HAVING A COMPETITOR. I guess someone has to die first before something is done. Funny the people who stay in RDP houses ALWAYS have electricity, we all know those people never buy electric. This is what happens when you pleay by the book and buy electricity!
I am demotivated, all my positivity is gone. I am usually a person with strong personality and LAWAYS positive. I can't remember the last time i said a pray. how do you thank God when you've been without electricity for a week? How do you stay in prayer? How do you keep a positive attitude? In this winter. I pray that you do not go through what we went through in this winter. You are CRUEL! WELL DONE! This has messed me up spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally

THE PRICE A PERSON HAS TO PAY FOR BEING BLACK AND BASED IN SOWETO

The tables will turn, it might not be this week, or next month or next year. But the tables will turn. What you make the other experience, so shall you experience yourself.

WELL DONE ESKOM.

Eskom recently advertised tenders on there website, and one of the tenders where for the supplying of electric motors to there Lethabo Power Station tender no LET110706, and if a tender is on the web which means its open to the public.The requirements where to download the tender document, fill in all questions and place the completed tender in the tender box located at Lethabo Power Station main security gate or fax to a number that was given in the document.closing time was 14.00hrs which i then started to fax my document from 13.30hr only to find that the number was engaged till 15.00hrs.so why give a fax number that does not work, i as a small bee company lost the opportunity to do business with eskom, or was that done deliberately for outside companies not tender?

This is a complaint

I was Disconnected on Wednesday the 7th of December and You demanded R4968 that included R3100 and Undisclosed sum of R1200 of which is a really scam and R590 sum I don’t see why I have to pay since its you who disconnected me and now for you to do your job and bloody reconnect me I have to pay you again.

There is a standard 24 hours to reconnect so why isn’t there a standard 24 hours before the Disconnection then and inform me by saying Kaizer Phatedi we will disconnect you in 24hours if you don’t pay and avoid this running around like headless chickens busy faxing faxing proof of payments as I after I paid on Wednesday I did fax the proof of payment to the number [protected] that I was given in the call centre and the 086 number of a certain Doctor Nya sumthing at Zonkezizwe in Katlehong who is on leave and now on Thursday I call again to confirm the receipt of the proof of payment and I am told that they didn’t receive and that’s totally ridiculous as I did my part and for you to do your part you are stalling and I sent someone to refax at 10H15 in the morning on the 8th of December 2011 and in 20 minutes it will be 24 hours and you haven’t yet reconnected me and don’t smooth talk and say Eskom apologizes for that cos I am beyond that …..reconnect me as soon as possible

Poor Service by you and it leaves a lot to be desired hence there are complaints and negative reactions to your service.

Eskom failed to issue us with a statement for a considerable time, and when they eventually did, the bill was big enough to purchase a small car for cash;we arranged to pay the bill off, but even though it was their tardiness which led to this mess, they unashamedly add interest, and like a vampire which smelt blood, the monthly bill is enough to pay an installment for a Porsche and keeps on increasing.We are paying per month what an avarage family pays per annum!

End of September Bill is extremely high due to the fact that Eskom Used July 2011 Opening as Sep 2011 opening reading. On Average the bill for the account below is around R200. The sad part is my mom has been away for 06 months so it's surpring that the bill has gone up that much. She queried the bill about twice & everytime she goes there the bill drops & shows that something.is not right with billing system. THe last time we had issues like these, it was sorted via family lawyer after several attempts to try understand what's happening. I called Eskom customer services & the lady I spoke was not helpfull because she gave me an attitude. Her name is Sandra Mothapo. She defended billings guys without hearing my full story. how can a bill move from an average of 3, 395, 000
watts to 6, 260, 000 in one month. The bill has been low in Winter & doubles in Summer. For me it does not make sense

To whom this may concern

I'm the owner of a property in Blaauwbergrand, Cape Town. The house was previously being owned by an individual who did not pay his/her rates/taxes, water bills and electricity. Since we have moved in we have been receiving abnormally high electricity bill exceeding realistic expectations. Every month we have been receiving estimate bills totalling thousands of rands each month. Seeing that it is only my wife and i staying at this residence and being electricity wise and conservative with our power usage we have concluded that there must be a huge problem from the service provider.

Over the year i have made endless attempts to ask Eskom to come out and investigate the problem, but nobody is interested in resolving the problem.
We have begged them to come out and test the meter so that they can discover that they are at fault, but nobody wants to help us.

I have taken this up with the necessary departments but they have not supported me in resolving this problem. We are a newly married young couple and have a monthly budget just like most other members of public. Last month I had to pay an electricity bill exceeding R3000. Being an honest respectable citizen I pay these bills month after month, but yet every month these excessive bills just keeps on coming. Nevertheless I pay these bills even if it means it has to come out of our savings or grocery budget.

This has started to affect our personal lives as it has a massive impact on our personal budget. This is seriously frustrating. If it is discovered that the relevant department is at fault (which realistically I feel is the case) will I be refunded or atleast credited?

Please assist me in resolving the problem, testing the meter immediately as well as doing accurate monthly readings, and getting us on a pre paid meter.

This issue cannot go on anymore. Dealing with the Eskom does not help. We are now at the point of installing an pre paid meter, but we cannot even persue this because we cannot get through to the relevant department to help us. Even if we do talk to somebody from Eskom it never reaches a point of them coming out.

Last week I decided to call an qualified electrician to do an inspection and meter reading on all our plugs and appliances in our house, and even he said that the bills we have been receiving far exceeds our average usage. We have gone through the process of elimination and now strongly believe we are not at fault here.

I am desperate for immediate assistance.

I Thank you in advance and look forward to your urgent response

Best regards

Mr.J.E Viljoen

55 Watsonia road

Blaauwbergrand

7442

Cape Town

[protected]

[protected]

I understand that Eskom might have to loadshed, but don't lie to us and say there was a problem with the plant or something. Yesterday the whole of Fontainebleau was down, today Northwold. If I had know there would be loadshedding yesterday I would have made plans to save my Koi fish. I hate it when my intelligence is under estimated. We are not idiots, we know you are loadshedding.

I have applied for the eletricity for home during the beginning of this year. This was a second application whereby Eskom was unable to assist me with my application status since I have lost my reference number due to my car theft and my laptop. Then they said I must apply again. I did it, and went all the way to follow up with them about my application. Call Centre agents were very inconsiderate and inconsistent in their service delivery. There was one time that one of the agents told me that I need to re-apply once more again because under my refernce number it was blank - NO INFORMATION AVAILABLE, for the second time. Well, I spoke to the Ladysmith Office, well, they told me something different that the Qoutation Letter was sent to my postal address as per the application. When I called home to go and check my post, there was no letter, considering the period it was sent I should have got it. There's just no way I can get hold of any to assist me instead, I am being sent to pillar to post and the Call Centre is just useless. They are arrogant and don't care for us. Time and money and all our efforts. This is unacceptable, can somebody assist. First time I've dealt with this!

Power cut off, phoned call centre I was told turnaround time 4 - 6 hours. Ten hours later called again I was told the team would be dispatched in 30 minutes. Needless to say no one responded - called again and was told they do not respond to Table View at night as it is a Red Zone when enquiring what a red zone is they said an area that is to dangerous to be in at night. Finally power was restored after 15 hours - a loose wire at the apparently open meter box. (who left the meter open?). Thanks for the good service Eskom and try get the call center staff to tell the same lies!

I hear Eskom are pushing for another 40%? If that is the case then, looking back on the last year, each increase upon increase leads to a total of 250%. ie. 150% increase. Feeding the Eskom fatcats, their goverment buddies and the people who don`t bother paying even a basic rate of what, r35 per month, or something like that.