State-owned power utility Eskom has highlighted the crisis regarding electricity theft, its effect on residents and business owners – whether they pay for electricity or not – and how Operation Khanyisa is dealing with this issue.
Eskom senior manager for energy trading and sales forecasting Maboe Maphaka says the main forms of theft are meter bypassing and tampering. The impact of electricity theft is felt by everyone as tariffs increase to compensate for losses and Eskom has to finance projects, such as Operation Khanyisa, to curb electricity theft.
“Tariff increases affect us all. A thief might think he has gained, but he will suffer the consequences when the local grocery store where he buys his groceries has to increase food prices to compensate for higher energy bills,” he explains.
In August, Engineering News reported that Eskom had recovered more than R243-million in revenue since the launch of Operation Khanyisa, which is a national partnership campaign established in 2010 to fight electricity theft and related energy losses in South Africa.
The figure includes the more than R200-million that has been recovered from the large-power-user sector and more than R43-million in tamper fines issued from 2010 to date.
Maphaka says the money recovered was enough to provide electricity for about 10 000 South African households.
Since the launch of the campaign, 112 arrests and 60 convictions have been made. These convictions include the first successful prosecution of two electricity theft suspects on racketeering charges, who received a combined sentence of 111 years.
Further, five farmers appeared in the Jan Kempsdorp Magis-trates Court, in the Northern Cape, on charges of fraud prelating to electricity theft this year. Various arrests have also been made in Limpopo, including the arrests of two teachers, for the sale of illegal prepaid electricity vouchers. Thus far, the electricity supply of more than 100 customers in the province who bought these illegal vouchers has also been disconnected. Tamper fines of up to R5 000 were issued for reconnection.