South Africa's energy crisis is exacerbated by electricity theft, which is also robbing Eskom of revenue.
It was difficult for Eskom to state how much electricity theft was costing it, but non-technical losses - such as billing and metering errors - amounted to R1-billion in the 2006/07 financial year, said Eskom spokesperson Tony Scott on Wednesday.
Of this amount, R16-million was lost through conductor theft - there were 449 known incidents of conductor theft in which 144 kilometres of line was stolen.
"Utilities worldwide are battling with energy losses and Eskom is not immune to that.
'The problem of electricity theft is big' "The problem of electricity theft is big, as utilities lose potential revenue and accidents sometimes occur that result in the loss of life," said Scott.
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Electricity theft was under control in some areas, but the problem was escalating in other areas, such as Eskom's central and north-western regions, which include Johannesburg, the Vaal Triangle, West Rand, Bloemfontein, Kimberley and Welkom.
Scott said that to a certain extent, Eskom's customers paid for a portion of electricity theft losses as the electricity rates approved by the National Energy Regulator of SA had an "allowance" built in to cover theft and commercial losses.
"The regulator approves electricity tariffs within which a fair allocation for system and commercial losses are included."
The most common ways in which electricity was being stolen included illegal connections to the electricity grid. This posed a danger as such connections could result in electrocution.
Illegal connections could also result in the system overloading and instability, and higher electricity costs.
Eskom could implement technology and processes to manage the theft, but it was equally important for communities to help by reporting electricity thieves, said Scott.
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