The overloading is mostly caused by illegal connections, meter tampering, unauthorised operations, non-payment and/or electricity token purchases from ghost vendors.

Eskom implements control measures such as audits, maintenance, load reduction, customer education and awareness campaigns to avert failures that lead to unplanned and extended outages. However, this equipment still fails mainly due to the illegal electricity-related acts which are rife in Mpumalanga communities.

Over the years, Eskom has repeatedly replaced and repaired failed infrastructure at its own cost without any conditions.

The process to replace or repair the failed equipment (transformers and mini-subs) commences with a network audit to determine the cause of the failures, and the extent of the damages, followed by the removal of illegal connections and fixing tampered meters/installations.

Once this normalisation is completed, the damaged equipment will be replaced depending on the availability of the required material.

The customers that were found to have tampered meters are issued with a remedial fee of R6 052. To accommodate customers that cannot immediately settle the whole remedial fee, Eskom introduced the Deferred Payment Arrangement (DPA).

Residential household customers are required to enter into a DPA and make an initial minimum payment of R3 050 and the balance can be paid over a maximum period of six months. All business customers are required to pay the full remedial fee issued, with no DPA allowed.

Eskom will start the process of restoring the power supply and equipment replacement only when a threshold of 70 per cent of the payment of the total remedial fee notice issued has been made by customers supplied from the same affected equipment.