By Deon de Lange
Thieves are costing power utility Eskom millions of rands in revenue every year by selling electricity credits from stolen dispensing machines across the country.
And since these machines were designed to operate independently, there is no way of determining exactly how much electricity is being sold on the black market.
According to a ministerial response to a recent parliamentary question by DA MP Manie van Dyk, 52 dispensing machines were stolen between 2005 and some time this year.
Of these, 11 have since been recovered by a special task team comprising members of the SAPS's Organised Crime Unit and the National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit.
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An analysis of the recovered machines has shown that some of them were used to dispense millions of rands worth of stolen electricity, while others were not operated illegally and showed no losses.
Public Enterprises Minister Brigitte Mabandla conceded that "it is not possible to quantify the full monetary loss given that Eskom has not recovered all of the stolen (machines)".
"Although safety features were built in over time, illegal manipulation of stolen (machines) can result in ongoing vending until the equipment physically fails," she said.
She also pointed out that the utility was "rapidly" migrating to a more secure online vending system and closing down all "off-line" machines. "Discontinuing offline vending and converting to online vending which Eskom is doing will resolve this problem," she said.
When the machines were first put into use about 20 years ago, they were designed to operate independently "because remote data communication" was not available.
Eskom spokesperson Fanie Zulu on Sunday confirmed this information and encouraged members of the public to report any suspicious electricity vending machines to the nearest Eskom office.
He said legitimate machines operate in the open, whereas stolen machines may be operating from someone's private property or a "shady backyard set-up".
"A red flag should be raised if consumers are charged more or less than the going Eskom rates.
However, there is no way to distinguish between a legal and illegal vending machine unless it is reported."
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This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on October 06, 2008
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