Using a harsher criminal justice process, the City of Ekurhuleni is cracking the whip to eradicate illegal electricity connections in the metro.
In November alone, 30 perpetrators who allegedly illegally tampered with electrical infrastructure, were arrested.
These arrests were made during raids to disconnect illegal connections led by the City’s Energy Department and Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department to curb unlawful connections, said Themba Gadebe, spokesperson for the metro.
The City of Ekurhuleni has recorded close to R800-million a year in non-technical electricity losses, caused, among other factors, by illegal power connections across the City and has undertaken rolling operations of disconnecting illegal connections and arresting suspected syndicates.
Gadebe said: “The City has resorted to use a harsher criminal justice process by using the legislative framework (Criminal Matters Amendment Act No 18 of 2015).
“Initially, people accused of tampering with electrical equipment could be released on bail by a police officer or a prosecutor as the crime was deemed a minor offence. The amended legislation provides that bail for persons accused of crimes related to essential infrastructure, such as water and electricity installations, may only be considered by a court, not police officers or prosecutors.
“The legislation has also provided for harsher minimum sentences ranging from three years to seven years for some of the essential infrastructure crimes, as well as theft of ferrous or non-ferrous metal which form part of essential infrastructure,” he added.
Municipal officials, contractors and companies that illegally connect to the power grid will face the harshest offences created by the legislation.
The member of the mayoral committee for water, sanitation and energy, Clr Tiisetso Nketle, said the City had adopted a hard-line approach to the illegal connection of electricity.
“In addition to the use of the criminal justice system to curb illegal connections, customers who are found to have connected illegally will face back-billing from the day they stopped purchasing electricity,” Nketle said.
In addition, the costs of disconnection and re-instating a legal connection to a business customer will be borne by the concerned customer.
For example, to remove and reconnect a 1 MVA connection is nearly R94 000. These prices exclude VAT.
Those who want to avoid the consequences of illegal connections can visit their nearest energy depot to normalise their connections.
Residents are encouraged to report any illegal connection or suspicion of illegal connection activities through the municipal call centre on 086 054 3000.
