There seems to be no light at the end of the electricity theft tunnel which runs into more than R20 billion annually in lost revenue to the country’s power generation utility, Eskom.
The illegal connections and unsafe wiring thereof have also claimed lives. Annually, Eskom estimated that close to 100 people, if not more, die from electrocution country-wide as a result of unsafe connections.
More than 150 people are injured nationally from illegal connections, either as innocent victims or resulting from tampering with substations or pylons that transport electricity to individual houses in a settlement.
Eskom technicians and officials are in sixes and sevens when asked what it would take to eradicate this burgeoning problem that seems to be growing in leaps and bounds, as more and more informal settlements mushroom around the country.
They believe the problem is multifaceted and needs a multi-pronged approach to tackle it. The fatalities and injuries that occur are not only caused by illegal connections but by a variety of reasons such as the use of substandard equipment or appliances, damaged cables or cords, the overloading of plugs, the repurposing of appliances and vandalised equipment which includes tampering with electricity meters.
Eskom’s corporate affairs manager for North West, Loyiso Jiya said, “[If] we can eliminate or minimise all of the above, we could easily witness a significant drop in both fatalities and injuries to our customers and those that seek to illegally connect themselves to the grid.”
Jiya said Eskom has undertaken to conduct a series of educational tours for the media and communities to reinforce the dangers associated with unsafe and improper use of electricity, including illegal connections, cable theft, low-hanging conductors, meter tampering and by-passing.
He said many South Africans were getting their electricity supply by following the correct channels but there were still some people who endanger their lives through illegal connections, which too often lead to death or serious injury.
In Khuma in the North West, Eskom personnel were confronted by angry residents when they were uprooting illegal connection wires buried underground. The residents demanded to be given back their wires as they had bought them with their own money.
The residents are connected to a supply shack that syphons electricity from an Eskom pylon and distributes it to more than 50 residents who pay a monthly fee of R200 to the owner of the shack who turned out to be a local pastor, but was away in the Eastern Cape.
From claims made by the residents, the pastor had allegedly told them he was authorised by Eskom to supply them with electricity.
When told the pastor was a criminal who was stealing electricity from Eskom, the residents claimed he was no criminal as he was ‘helping connect us to the grid so we can have electricity like any other South African. On top of that, we also pay for the service’.
In the same township, an eight-year-old boy was fatally electrocuted after touching a fence which was touching a live wire running from an illegal connection. The same fence had previously shocked the boy’s father, who fortunately survived the incident.
In another incident, a 40-year-old man died after being electrocuted while trying to hang clothes on a washing line that was in contact with substandard open wiring.
“People – in most cases innocent children – are often injured or die when they accidentally come into contact with live electrical wires from illegal connections,” Jiya said.
