{"id":755695,"date":"2024-02-28T11:35:59","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T09:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=755695"},"modified":"2024-02-28T11:36:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T09:36:04","slug":"eskom-kisses-millions-goodbye-as-232-transformers-get-stolen-in-one-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/755695\/eskom-kisses-millions-goodbye-as-232-transformers-get-stolen-in-one-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Eskom kisses millions goodbye as 232 transformers get stolen in one year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gordan has revealed that 44,043 electrical infrastructure theft incidents have been reported from 2018\/19 to February 2024 \u2013 including 232 stolen transformers worth an estimated R19 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These numbers were presented in a recent parliament Q&A session, in which the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordan, was asked about the reported cases of theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure \u2013 including the financial cost incurred. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Gordhan’s response, KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of electrical infrastructure theft incidents over six years, with 8,598 cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eastern Cape came in second with 7,129 incidents, followed by Gauteng with 7,030. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Limpopo recorded 4,691 incidents, North West 4,522, Mpumalanga 4,433, Free State 3,345, and Northern Cape 2,544. Western Cape had the lowest number of theft incidents at 1,751.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of these incidents, Gordan noted that 232 transformers were reported stolen, with a direct loss of R18,953,668.45.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the cost and loss of transformers to theft are likely far worse, as the numbers provided by Gorhand are for the 2022\/23 financial year alone while stating the number of transformer thefts in other years is unavailable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 232 stolen transformers in 2022\/23. Mpumalanga recorded the most cases of such theft (85), followed by Gauteng (75) and Limpopo with 43 stolen transformers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Province<\/th>No. stolen <\/th>Direct value loss <\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Eastern Cape<\/td>3<\/td>R95 526<\/td><\/tr>
Free State<\/td>6<\/td>R4 212 323<\/td><\/tr>
Gauteng<\/td>75<\/td>R2 115 967<\/td><\/tr>
Kwa-Zulu Natal<\/td>3<\/td>R199 896<\/td><\/tr>
Limpopo<\/td>43<\/td>R8 169 166<\/td><\/tr>
Mpumalanga<\/td>85<\/td>R3 504 533<\/td><\/tr>
Northern Cape<\/td>1<\/td>R110 000<\/td><\/tr>
North West<\/td>13<\/td>R460 965<\/td><\/tr>
Western Cape<\/td>3<\/td>R85 293<\/td><\/tr>
Total:<\/strong><\/td>232<\/strong><\/td>R18 953 668<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gordhan also revealed that the total number of failed transformers across the nine provinces due to theft was 1,347 as of 9 February 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said failed transformers were replaced daily, while failures due to theft and vandalism also occur frequently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe leading causes of these transformer failures include overloading (which occurs when customers have tampered with or bypassed their meters), illegal connections (which have bypassed the fuses and breakers that are meant to protect the transformer from overloading), as well as theft and vandalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEskom remains committed to replacing failed transformers soon after tamper fines have been paid by the customers and the replacement criteria have been met,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordhan stated that several measures were being implemented to repair and safeguard the electrical infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He mentioned that they were working with the SAPS, the State Security Agency, the National Prosecuting Authority, and national and provincial joint operational and intelligence units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added these collaborations will provide ongoing assistance to Eskom concerning crime prevention, disruptive operations, intelligence gathering, investigations, arrests, and prosecutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordhan stated that technology was being implemented to inform security designs for Eskom facilities, including substations and power lines, while Eskom was “continuously assessing risks and threats and developing appropriate plans for high-risk sites.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that there was collaboration with communities to create awareness and encouraged them to pay for electricity and take ownership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordhan added that the power utility also partners with the private security industry to safeguard critical electricity infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: South Africa\u2019s insane year for solar<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

44,043 electrical theft incidents were reported over the last six years, including 232 transformers worth R19 million, according to Gordan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":258149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[1164,853],"class_list":["post-755695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-eskom","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755695"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":755773,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755695\/revisions\/755773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}