Eskom says illegal connections are a major reason for outages in parts of Diepkloof
The power utility said that it had in the recent past months recorded a high number of failed electricity infrastructure due to network overload.
Life without electricity for a few days can be managed, but for over a month must have been a nightmare for residents in parts of Diepkloof Zone 5 especially in cold weathers, and patiently they said they waited and wanted to corporate with the power utility, Eskom, however, it seemed to them, Eskom wasn’t coming to the party and then action was taken. The community had on
Thursday, August 12 took to the streets to demonstrate their frustrations, blocking roads with burning tyres and rocks.
The power utility said that it had in the recent past months recorded a high number of failed electricity infrastructure due to network overload resulting from illegal connections, meter bypasses and tampering, unauthorised operations on electricity infrastructure, vandalism and theft of electrical equipment and these resulted in electricity infrastructure (mini-substations and transformers) failures and explosions alleging that this is the case in this particular part of Zone 5.
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“Eskom is busy replacing faulty transformers/mini-substations and the network in general and some parts of Diepkloof will also be covered by this program. However, the transformer replacement is preceded by an audit process to identify the underlying causes of the damage to the transformer or mini-substation and the extent of the damage on the overall network in the affected area. During this process, those found to have bypassed their meters or buying from ghost vendors are disconnected and issued with disconnection fines.” Said the power utility in a statement issued.
“This also includes the removal of illegal connections and the repair or replacement of faulty meters as well as repairing the network to acceptable standards. As part of the repair/replacement process Eskom will also be securing the network to curb illegal and unauthorised operating on the network. After all this is done and disconnection fines are settled, Eskom will then restore supply in those affected areas. This also depends on the availability of material and resources. We are in constant contact with residents of the affected area, providing them with the progress on the matter.”
However, if not all residents are connected illegally and if some are paying why is everyone affected?
The power utility stated that illegal electricity activities result in failed electricity equipment which consequently affects the reliability of supply and when this happens, paying customers are also affected as the electricity infrastructures are designed to supply customers collectively and not individually.
The power utility also urged residents to refrain from conducting illegal electricity activities to avoid frequent and prolonged outages and listed the impacts of illegal activities and non-payment of electricity.
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