There is a silent crime taking place in South Africa.
Many of us know about it, know someone who is doing it, or we are even doing it ourselves. However, we choose to ignore it or make excuses. This crime is electricity theft.
Once again we experience load shedding due to stolen electricity.
Many people think it’s only taking place in the townships or informal settlements, but it’s everywhere – in industry, commerce, agriculture and private households, both rich and poor.
Worker and Socialist Party likes to thank the Congress of the People (Cope) councillor M Mokgomola, for inviting me to attend the 2011-2016 IDPs and the budget speech of Mogale City Local Municipality for the financial year 2014/15, which was tabled by the Executive Mayor Koketso Calvin Seerane at a special council meeting on 20 June.
Wasp accepted the invitation, thinking that load shedding or electricity theft will be topping the council agenda. But hey, the council instead focused on electricity tariff increases of 7,39 per cent, which still is to be approved by the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), than electricity theft.
Electricity theft is serious. Eskom loses around R1,2 billion a year. Add the losses suffered by municipalities, and South Africa loses an estimated R4,4 billion a year due to electricity theft.
Electricity is stolen mostly through illegal connections, meter tampering and by-passing. This affects the stability and quality of the power supply and causes power outages.
The theft of vending machines or credit dispensing units (CDU) that dispense pre-paid electricity vouchers and the reselling of these vouchers also occur.
CDU usually are stolen by organised syndicates that will use runners to recruit customers by promising them electricity at reduced prices, like half price – pay R100 but get a R200 voucher.
