Cape Town - Damages and repairs from illegal connections cost Eskom R71million over the past financial year.
The power utility said damages and repairs were to blame for the disruption to the electricity supply experienced across the Western Cape province. Now they warn that perpetrators will be charged with theft and damage to essential infrastructure, and if found guilty, will be liable to pay a hefty fine or face imprisonment.
Over the past three years, Eskom incurred costs to the value of as much as R188m related to theft and vandalism of the electricity network. This excludes the loss of revenue.
The cost over the last three years was R53m at March 2018, R64m at March last year and R71m as at the end of March.
The hot spot areas are: Atlantis, Bloekombos, Blue Downs, Crossroads, Delft, Dunoon, Khayelitsha, Nomzamo in Somerset West, Marikana in Philippi, Rooidakke in Grabouw, Wallacedene and Witsand.
Trish da Silva, provincial spokesperson for Eskom, said illegal connections from the Tsunami informal settlement in Delft, were also pitting one community against another.
Residents in Tsunami were connecting illegally to the Eskom network and overloading the transformers, and causing loss of supply to approximately 50 legal and paying customers in Delft. She confirmed that, currently, Tsunami was Eskom’s most problematic area.
“Apart from the illegal connections, vandalism to Eskom equipment is rife in the area, putting further strain on the electricity network. Equipment is damaged when live low voltage lines are cut and diverted to Tsunami. So far, Eskom has replaced seven transformers in the area because of the illegal connections,” said Da Silva.
Meanwhile, residents in Delft said they were fed up with illegal
electricity connections that had affected their living conditions for the past seven months.
Resident Sinazo Longqele said 50 people renting had moved out, causing landlords loss of income.
“What is worse is that some people do not know what is going on with the lockdown because there is no electricity. We have tried everything from speaking to ward councillors and starting our own patrols to try to stop them from connecting, and all have failed,” she said.
Another resident, Faith Thlone, said since October last year, it had been an uphill battle with electricity in homes.
Zoleka Maliti, who has been a resident for five years, said living under these conditions was unfair to paying residents.
“Yes, we stay near the informal settlement but when I came here five years ago, I noticed the illegal connections. The cables were crossing the street from where the flats are to the informal settlement,” said Maliti.
She added the community was in desperate need of help because many houses had been left in the
dark.
Eskom is appealing to the public to report illegal connections, electricity theft, tampering, cable theft and vandalism of infrastructure by contacting the Eskom Toll-Free Crime Hotline 0800112722 or SMS Crime Line on 32211. Callers may remain anonymous.