Estella Naicker
Roughly half the electricity distributed in Vryheid is stolen through illegal connections.
Abaqulusi municipality is now taking drastic action.
In just two days, 48 illegal connections were removed in Bhekuzulu, and residents throughout Abaqulusi can expect spot checks as plans are underway to audit every single electricity meter, in search of bypasses.
Manager of debt collection and credit control, Grant Bradbury, says that among the people who have been caught already, are professional people residing in the CBD, and warned that transgressors can expect no leniency.
“Anyone caught with electricity bypasses will have their electricity disconnected until they pay a R5 000 tampering fee, if it is a first time offence. If caught for the second time, the cable running to the house will be removed completely and water supply will be restricted to a trickle feed. The resident will then have to apply for new services and this cost is well over R10 000,” said Mr Bradbury.
Two teams of municipal contract workers are addressing the issue of illegal connections with the help of a handheld device that simultaneously photographs the bypass and logs the GPS co-ordinates as evidence.
Since their intervention, the payment rate for electricity has gone up to 108%, as arrears are being recovered.
“We are picking up a lot of illegal connections through people not purchasing prepaid electricity. When caught, the average amount that the person would have paid for electricity is written back to their account,” explained Mr Bradbury.
Expressing concern about the safety issues that illegal connections pose, Mr Bradbury warned that using flimsy material like speaker wire to bridge the connection, could cause a fire when the material overheated. Bare wires also posed a risk of electrical shock capable of killing a person.
“We want to send a message to the community that this will no longer be tolerated,” concluded Mr Bradbury.
