‘ Izinyoka ’ will have to pay up

FINES FOR ILLEGAL CONNECTIONS

RESIDENTS and businesses in cash-strapped municipalities face fines of up to R11 000 for illegally connecting to the electricity grid.

A plan to impose fines was revealed by Msukaligwa local municipality manager Sabatha Shongwe on Friday during the National Energy Regulator of SA ’ s (Nersa) public hearings into the nine municipalities that have applied for tariff hikes above the 12.2% guideline.

Shongwe ’ s presentation showed that businesses that illegally connect to the grid risk fines of up to R6 732 while households can be hit with penalties ranging between R3 702 and R11 107.

Municipalities across the country lose billions of rand in revenue to “izinyoka ”, people who connect illegally to the electricity grid. The figure reportedly stood at more than R15-billion last year.

Msukaligwa local municipality applied for a 13.67% tariff hike and Shongwe told the public hearing that the municipality needed to increase its electricity tariff by 41%.

“This has been spread over three years because it would be unaffordable to consumers,” he said.

The Mpumalanga municipality loses more than a third (over R80m) of its electricity, mostly to izinyoka, and has lost R350m in the past few years, according to Shongwe. As a result it owes power utility Eskom R125m. It needs to pay R86m by the end of June next year and settle the entire debt by April 2017. “We have a number of people who have tampered with the system,” Shon- gwe said.

Nersa ’ s benchmarks make provision for electricity losses of between five and 12%.

Another struggling municipality, Mookgopong in Limpopo, has threatened to ensure that izinyoka pay penalties and connection fees if it is found they made illegal electrical connections.

Illegal consumers will also pay for their consumption during the period in which they were illegally connected.

Mookgopong municipality chief financial officer Dewald Eksteen said the municipality was owed R85m by the end of June last year and that during an audit it was found that its izinyoka included three businesses.

The municipality, which owes Eskom R35m, has applied for a whopping 35% increase.

Another municipality, Abaqulusi in KwaZulu-Natal, has asked for a 15% increase to partly fund the refurbishment of electricity distribution substations vandalised during service delivery protests in March.