City denies millions lost in power theft

The Tshwane metro has denied claims of rampant electricity theft or that it has no plan to deal with the electricity losses that have crippled the economy for the past five years.

“At the best of times, technical and non-technical electricity losses are enough to bring this city to a standstill,” said DA councillor Peter Sutton, adding the metro lost at least R873 million annually to electricity theft.

Sutton said the metro appeared to condone cable and electricity theft. “The Tshwane metro is so reluctant to publicly speak out against cable theft, vandalism and illegal connections. It does not prioritise infrastructure maintenance despite the adverse effect on revenue collection.”

He claimed the metro also had only one option, disconnecting electricity, to punish defaulters.

“We do not believe all avenues have been exhausted to deal with this matter,” he added.

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said none of Sutton’s allegations held any water. “The metro has installed tamperproof boxes and prepaid meters. We are also electrifying informal areas and maintaining, refurbishing and replacing old equipment as well as strengthening electrical cables and the overhead line network to deal with both technical and non-technical losses of electricity.”

Mashigo said the metro conducted an average of five raids a week to remove illegal connections. He said the metro was also aware of rampant incorrect billing. “A new mobile meter reading device fitted with coordinates has been bought for real-time meter reading,” he said.

He denied disconnection of defaulters was the metro’s only option. “Options include serving the final demand notice, which is followed by disconnection,” he said.

In June, the Tshwane smart meter tender saga with PEU led the DA to consider initiating criminal charges. The DA’s Lex Middelburg said: “The mayor and the municipal manager of Tshwane ignored the opinions, advice and expressly written instructions of the then minister of finance and head of National Treasury Pravin Gordhan not to proceed with the contract,” said Middelburg. “They also failed to disclose this information to the council.” – Caxton News Service

Technical and non-technical electricity losses are enough to bring this city to a standstill