{"id":836712,"date":"2025-09-05T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=836712"},"modified":"2025-09-04T17:09:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T15:09:18","slug":"eskom-sends-a-warning-to-south-africans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/836712\/eskom-sends-a-warning-to-south-africans\/","title":{"rendered":"Eskom sends a warning to South Africans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eskom has warned South Africans that tampering with electricity meters is a criminal offence and will carry serious consequences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This follows a surge in incidents reported by the utility in 2025, where meters are either illegally modified or bypassed to avoid paying for electricity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It noted that tampering with a meter to stop or reduce its readings undermines Eskom\u2019s already strained finances and places lives and property at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The City of Ekurhuleni recently joined Eskom in condemning illegal connections, ghost vending, and the bypassing of meters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It explained that meter tampering occurs when a customer interferes with the device so that it either stops working completely or does not register the amount of electricity consumed by a household or business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city warned that this behaviour compromises the financial stability of municipal utilities, disrupts service reliability, threatens public safety, and undermines the broader economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address the issue, the metro has imposed penalties on those caught tampering. These include removing and reinstating a service connection, calculated based on labour, materials, and transport, plus an additional 10%, with a minimum charge of R5,566.07.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom has echoed this stance, stressing that people found guilty of tampering can be fined heavily or face criminal prosecution. The utility said it monitors consumption patterns to detect irregularities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Eskom sees a specific meter is consuming electricity, but the customer is not buying electricity, or they buy much less than the house should consume, it indicates the meter has been tampered with or the customer is buying illegal prepaid vouchers from crime syndicates,\u201d the company warned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In such cases, Eskom dispatches technicians to audit the meters. If tampering is confirmed, the utility may remove its infrastructure and lay criminal charges against those responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the financial implications, Eskom has warned of the severe dangers associated with tampering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a meter is illegally altered, faults inside a home or business may go undetected, as the system will no longer trip to cut off supply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is very dangerous for people in the building and can result in electrocution or a fire,\u201d Eskom said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costing Eskom millions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It has also cautioned the public against falling victim to scams, urging customers to refuse any offers from individuals claiming they can alter meters in exchange for payment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf somebody offers to make changes on your meter and asks for payment, you should know it\u2019s illegal,\u201d the utility said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crackdown on tampering comes at a time when Eskom is grappling with escalating costs linked to vandalism and theft of its infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between April 2024 and the end of February 2025, the utility recorded losses of about R221 million due to these crimes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this figure is lower than the R271 million recorded during the same period the previous year, Eskom said the problem remains a serious challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To deter offenders, the utility has warned that fines of up to R12,000 could be imposed, and repeat offences could lead to criminal prosecution. Customers are encouraged to regularise their accounts during grace periods to avoid these penalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monde Bala, Eskom\u2019s group executive for distribution, has appealed to communities to help safeguard infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe urge communities to play a role in protecting the infrastructure that delivers electricity to their homes and businesses,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReliable electricity is essential for daily life, preserving food, cooking, heating, lighting and enabling children to study after dark. Protecting the infrastructure is a shared responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bala added that vandalism and theft often result in unplanned outages, which can leave households and businesses without power for extended periods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In cases where key equipment, such as transformers or high-voltage components, is damaged, restoration can take weeks because replacement parts are not readily available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eskom has warned South Africans that tampering with electricity meters is a criminal offence and will carry serious consequences.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":742431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[1164,853],"class_list":["post-836712","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\/836712","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836712"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836846,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836712\/revisions\/836846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}