Eskom operation cuts off non-paying customers

A Glen Austin homeowner was fined R15 131.75 following an illegal electricity connection at

their home after Eskom disconnected their power supply due to non-payment.

The fine came about while Eskom conducted an operation in the area, auditing meters and monitoring electrical infrastructure. During the operation, officials of the power supplier visited five homes, digging and cutting illegal connections, to which they fined one homeowner.

A senior manager at Eskom customer services, Daphne Mokwena, said that Gauteng alone was losing around R 2.5 billion a year due to illegal connections, meter bypassing, energy theft, as well as ghost vending.

She added that when Eskom removed infrastructure, usually the customer would have to visit Eskom to find a solution to get their power back. However, the said customer, like many others, allegedly reconnected their power without the knowledge of Eskom, tampering with Eskom’s electricity infrastructure.

“We had disconnected them before for non-payment and they reconnected themselves. Normally if a customer gets disconnected, we would expect them to approach Eskom and try to negotiate a suitable payment agreement for their areas so they can get reconnected.”

Mokwena added that if a customer failed to approach Eskom, officials would then revisit the customer to find out why they are not communicating with them.

“Normally those are the customers that we find to have reconnected themselves illegally. Customers issued with a remedial notice have to pay it so their supply is reconnected.

“After paying the remedial fee, they can then enter into a payment arrangement with Eskom.”

Mokwena said criminal cases would be opened against customers found to have tampered with the electricity infrastructure.

They concluded that they will be using the recovered illegal joint cables as evidence.