Electrical equipment worth thousands recovered in North West

At least 250 households and two scrapyards were illegally receiving power through a connection linked to a mini substation, a joint operation targeting illegal connections in Tlhabane in the North West uncovered.

The Rustenburg local municipality said the operation recovered electrical equipment worth R70,000.

The Rustenburg Crime Combating Unit, revenue protection team, SAPS Tlhabane and Eskom joined forces to curb illegal connections and usage in the informal settlement in the area.

The municipality said the negative effects of the overloaded power grid, power failures and the damage sustained to transformers led to the action.

“Three contact points from which electricity had been sourced illegally had been identified through earlier investigations at Tlhabane,” said the municipality. “A 100m aluminium conductor cable with an estimated value of R10,000 was recovered at the first mini substation, as well as a 50m copper cable worth R2 500.”

During the first leg of the operation, another 100m cable was discovered with an estimated value of R20,000. The team also found a total of 100 households and a scrapyard had been receiving electricity supply from a mini substation from this single illegal connection.

At the second identified contact point, an aluminium conductor cable worth R12,000 was recovered, as well as a 100m suffix cable. The cable, worth R20,000, was confiscated.

“During this leg of the operation, it emerged that over 150 households were receiving electricity illegally from the mini substation,” the municipality said.

The third leg of the operation led to the discovery of another illegal electricity connection from a different mini substation.

A total of 20 Eskom ABC meters were confiscated with an estimated value of R5,000, as well as a connecting cable of about 150m. The connecting cable has an estimated value of R7,000, the municipality said.

– OFM News

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