{"id":802940,"date":"2024-12-04T15:12:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T13:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=802940"},"modified":"2024-12-04T15:39:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T13:39:15","slug":"eskom-nails-600-households-in-illegal-connection-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/802940\/eskom-nails-600-households-in-illegal-connection-raid\/","title":{"rendered":"Eskom nails 600+ households in illegal connection raid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Power utility Eskom has nailed over 600 informal households for illegal connections in Gauteng during a raid in collaboration with the South African Police Service (SAPS), City Power and Eskom-contracted security personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the raid, the groups uncovered a large-scale illegal electricity operation at three houses located on a farm, which was heavily guarded, in Leeupoort near Fochville in Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Intelligence investigations uncovered that stolen electrical equipment was being used to supply electricity illegally to nearby informal settlements in exchange for payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Over 600 informal households were illegally connected to electricity provided by the farmer,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The illegal operation had led to an estimated financial loss of more than R6.6 million for Eskom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the raid, authorities recovered critical infrastructure, including two transformers (2x100kVA and 1x50kVA) and 150-meter boxes belonging to City Power and Eskom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farm owner, suspected of orchestrating the illegal activities, has been arrested and is in custody at Fochville Police Station. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspect was charged with tampering with essential infrastructure and malicious damage to property, including illegal redistribution and resale of electricity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom said it has been investigating the case since 2018, with the property being disconnected multiple times. However, the farmer repeatedly reconnected the power supply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The affected area has been disconnected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Tampering with or damaging critical infrastructure is a criminal offence under the Criminal Matters Amendment Act, with penalties of up to 30 years\u2019 imprisonment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Such activities disrupt essential services, pose serious safety risks, and undermine the sustainability of the electricity network,” Eskom said.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Image: Eskom<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Zero-buying users<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clampdown on illegal connections follows other successes in tackling unlawful users of electricity in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent token (TID) rollover project related to prepaid electricity meters was also a significant victory for the utility as it managed to convert an estimated ‘zero buying’ prepaid customers into paying customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZero buyers\u201d is a euphemistic term used by Eskom to describe customers who use electricity but do not pay for it through legitimate channels or at all. These customers were\/are purchasing units from \u2018ghost\u2019 vendors or may have bypassed or tampered with their meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the 24 November TID rollover deadline, Eskom reported around 2.1 million prepaid units as being these types of users. Following the deadline, 1.7 million remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the utility\u2019s strategy to clamp down on non-vending meters, tampering and illegal power use, the group set a new deadline\u201413 December 2024\u2014to \u2018assist\u2019 zero-buyers in converting their meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failure to do so could result in the customers being cut off and having to pay steep penalties and reconnection fines to get back on the grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: What happens if you miss Eskom\u2019s new prepaid meter deadline<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eskom and the SAPS have raided a major illegal electricity operation in Gauteng, cutting off over 600 households from the supply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":777033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-802940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802940","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=802940"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":802965,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802940\/revisions\/802965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}