Eskom descends on Mtubatuba for audit
ESKOM officials visited the Nordale suburb of Mtubatuba on Tuesday, going from house to house to ensure electricity meters have not been bypassed or tampered with.
Some community members, however, were not pleased with this and accused
Eskom of being quick to check illegal connections but slow to respond to power failures.
Some also questioned why the ward councillor had not been informed about the auditing of meters, which was confirmed by Eskom’s Industry Support and Stakeholder manager Joyce Zingoni.
One resident said the officials came into their house to check when the last time was that they had purchased electricity, as well as how much electricity they usually buy and whether the meter found inside the house corresponded with what Eskom has on record.
‘They are very serious. They are checking everything. They even call the office to check how regularly you buy electricity,’ the resident said.
Zingoni said this audit would not only be conducted in Mtubatuba as it ‘has been ongoing’ throughout the province in areas where the power utility suffers ‘high energy losses’.
She said bypassed or tampered-with meters will be removed and will only be replaced once the customer has paid a fine.
‘The audits are part of Eskom’s strategy to root out non-buying consumers and to ensure we collect all the revenue due to us,’ Zingoni said.
She added that the energy losses suffered by Eskom have exerted ‘enormous strain’ on the entity’s infrastructure, resulting in many transformers ‘frequently exploding’.
‘When these transformers explode, they pose a serious danger to the community and could result [in] fatalities. Moreover, Eskom loses lots of money replacing these transformers, plus revenue that is not collectible due to electricity theft.
‘Eskom appeals to the public to report illegal connections and tampered-with meters on the toll free number
0800 11 27 22,’ Zingoni said.