WATCH: Informal settlements ‘stealing’ electricity costs Joburg millions

City Power said informal settlements that are “stealing” electricity by tapping illegally into the power grid are costing the City of Johannesburg millions of rands.

The power utility embarked on a three-day revenue collection operation to recoup millions of rands from defaulting customers

City Power said it is cutting off power supply to businesses that refuse to pay for services.

The utility said it also intends removing illegal connections of those who are found to have bypassed meters.

Informal settlements

Speaking to The Citizen, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said they are facing a huge problem trying to curb the illegal electricity connections at informal settlements.

“It’s something that does not really start with City Power. It starts with housing and people flocking into the city of Johannesburg,” Mangena said.

“So when they come here, often they don’t have places to stay and they just look for an empty space where they occupy that land and they will connect illegally to the services of the City of Johannesburg, including electricity.”

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Massive costs

Mangena said illegal connections are costing the city of Johannesburg millions of rands.

“Unfortunately, we cannot entertain this at the expense of the people who are suffering from the problem of illegal connections. It’s a very serious problem within the City of Johannesburg which really costs us millions annually.”

Engagement with housing

Mangena said City Power is engaging with the housing department to electrify informal settlements.

“It will work in City Power’s favour if we could be able to electrify all of those informal settlements, money allowing, so that we are able to manage the consumption levels of how much electricity is supposed to go there,” he said.

“It will also show us where we need to increase capacity so that we can deal with the problem of illegal connections. It is not only costing the city, but it is also unsafe.”

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