'Network tampered with' - City Power releases findings on electrocution of newly-wed Crosby couple
City Power says it has completed its preliminary investigation into the cause of the electrocution of a newly-wed couple in Crosby in Johannesburg over the weekend.
Zaheer Sarang and Nabeelah Khan were found dead in the shower on Sunday afternoon.
It's understood the couple had returned from their honeymoon the day before.
The power utility launched an investigation into the cause of the electrocution following reports that illegal connections had caused a power surge in the area.
"Following the preliminary investigation that was conducted this, City Power found that the meter was bridged, and the earth was disconnected on the meter box which is inside the customer's house," says City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.
"This confirms our earlier suspicion that our network could have been tempered with leading to instability in the voltage. Further observation is that we suspect that the earth leakage on the customer’s box was faulty or tempered with since the meter was tempered with during the bridging. If there was an earth fault, the earth leakage should have tripped instead of shocking the couple."
It's also believed the family had tried to report electricity-related incidents in the home prior to the tragedy.
Mangena admits a call was logged.
"We can confirm that a ‘no power’ call was logged with City Power on the 12th of June 2021 for two properties on St Ives Street in Mayfair, which was dispatched same day around 21h00.
"City Power has contacted the family, and we have communicated these findings to them. We have also decided to issue the family with a notice to disconnect their power until such time the legal requirements for safe connection have been established. The customer would need to follow the City Power reconnection process before we could reconnect them," Mangena explains.
ALSO READ:
Mangena adds the bypassing of meters remains a major concern in the area.
"Our metering team will be sent to the area including the family of the couple to normalize and replace any faulty meters.
We urge residents to desist from tampering with electricity infrastructure - including bypassing our meters, vandalism and illegal connections which may lead to the circuit malfunctioning.
"Communities should also stop the illegality of paying people to work on our network, as this is not only illegal in terms of the law, but also dangerous and interferes with the functioning of our circuit and customers may start experiencing insurges and equipment shocking them, or lower than normal voltage."
