Increasing population, inequality sparking illegal connection crisis – expert

South Africa’s increasing population and inequality are contributing to proliferating illegal electricity connections, according to energy expert Hilton Trollip.

Trollip said South Africans need to pay for services in the context of a bigger programme which recognises the basic needs of the poor should be met. He said many poor people are desperate and as a result are turning to illegal connections.

“There are additional political dimensions to this and programmes seen as unfair to the poor obviously impact on the election of city councils, as well as on national government if they are overly harsh in this area.”

Illegal connections ‘a serious problem’

He stressed that illegal connections are a serious problem for Eskom and municipalities, particularly in terms of revenue collection.

“What we are experiencing with regards to illegal connections is essentially theft but it’s not simple because you are talking about theft of a basic need in situations of abject poverty, as well as a situation where connections [about 10 years ago] stopped keeping up with new household formations in urban areas.

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“So, the actual proportion of South Africans with electricity is going down and electricity tarrifs are unaffordable for many people. Hence people are experiencing severe energy poverty,” Trollip added.

In Johannesburg, City Power said there has been a proliferation of illegal connections which then add strain to the network and infrastructure.

“The city is attractive to labour and student migrants from around the country and the continent and many others seeking economic opportunities,” City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.

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“Many of them come into the city and set up informal settlements. On the last count, we had over 250 informal settlements across Johannesburg, a number which has likely increased in the past few months. People in informal settlements connect illegally to our grid,” he said.

Financial loss

Electricity theft through meter bypassing and illegal connections lead to significant financial loss in revenue, put the electricity system under pressure and it causes constant power outages due to overloading on mini-substations, transformer substations and pole-mounted transformers which eventually explode and catch fire.

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“City Power strongly emphasises that illegal connections are unsafe and when people illegally connect to the grid, they are putting their lives and others at risk.”

Mangena said illegal connections also result in network malfunctioning, tripping increasing, cables burning, lower or higher than the normal voltage on the network and causing fires in homes.

He said people are breaking into City Power’s infrastructure, such as mini-substations, to connect to the grid.

“Most of the outages City Power is experiencing are due to illegal connections. For instance, most of the service cables from electricity boxes into yards are getting stolen and we have seen an increase in areas such as Lenasia, Alexandra and Diepsloot recently.

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“These types of cables, such as Ariel bundle cables, are used to connect street lights and are often used to connect people illegally to our grid in informal settlements,” Mangena said.

Informal settlements

“We have to wait for approval before we can provide electricity for informal settlements – if we are able to do so as we would have to check capacity and how much more electricity we would need to purchase from Eskom.”

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He said the city loses more than R2 billion each year in nontechnical losses, which include from illegal connections in suburbs and informal settlements. In addition, City Power spends millions of rands to replace stolen cables and repair infrastructure.

“We have not ruled out the involvement of contractors and some of our staff in these actions and we are starting to see it with those arrested in recent months.

“We have found out from residents that some contractors go into informal settlements and assist them with illegal connections as often someone who can work on the City Power network has had proper training.”

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