Door-to-door education on electricity theft
Eskom’s Operation Khanyisa continues its fight against electricity theft with a team of agents going from home to home to educate users on the legal, safe and efficient use of electricity.
The operation will be carried out mainly in four provinces: North West, the Free State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
According to Dileep John, Head of Operation Khanyisa, field agents are being deployed there because “these are the hot spots”.
John says that while stopping electricity theft is a priority, Operation Khanyisa agents are going into communities to educate users on how to use electricity safely, legally, and efficiently.
North West province is a major hot spot
In the North West province, the main focus will be Platinum Village, Freedom Park and surrounding areas. In these areas electricity theft is experienced in both the residential and business environments. Energy losses are incurred through:
- Illegal connections
- Buying and selling of illegal power vouchers
- Bypassing and meter tampering
- Non-payment of electricity
- Cable theft
Double standards about electricity theft
Research shows that 96 percent of people believe that electricity theft is wrong, but only 33 percent acknowledge it when it happens in their own community. Translated into rand value, the country is losing billions every year due to criminal behaviour.
Illegal connections cause power cuts
What these people do not realise is that power cuts are mostly not caused by load shedding, but by illegal connections that trip the system. One person stealing electricity can cause the whole community to suffer loss of power and its ripple effects.
Anonymous reporting
Keep on reporting electricity theft anonymously to Crime Line on 32211 at R1 for an SMS.
