Eskom warns against illegal connections

At a public meeting at the Nyandezulu Centre for the Disabled last Friday, Bhomela location residents were warned by Eskom about illegal electricity connections,

The community was urged not to take matters into their own hands when they have problems, instead they should contact the power utility.

Makhosi Ngeleka from Eskom Customer Services said that residents should not hire people to fix their electricity, but rather call Eskom if there is an issue.

Furthermore, Ngeleka said that residents should report to Eskom if they see a person connecting or fixing something at a transformer.

She also explained the reason for load shedding in some parts of Ward 24 for four hours a day, mostly during peak periods.

“There are a number of illegal connections which drains the network and makes it difficult to supply power in the area. Electricity goes off at 05:00 till 09:00 or 17:00 to 21:00. There is a high demand for supply that cannot be met.”

According to Ngeleka, Eskom is also busy with phase 2 of auditing transformers, so that they can be upgraded to meet customer demand.

Community members admitted about the illegal connections in the area and that some do not pay for electricity at all.

Also, the community complained that they don’t buy electricity because when they call Eskom for assistance they don’t respond, and they have to find help elsewhere.

Ward councillor Thabiso Jingela pleaded with Eskom to avail themselves when there are complaints in the community and that they need to make it easy to get hold of them.

“Eskom needs to find a better way of communicating with us, the chatbot that we are told to use is not user-friendly. Also, when you call Eskom, you eventually run out of airtime because you are hold on for a long time.”

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