Eskom in Gauteng incurs annual losses amounting to about R7bn due to non-technical issues caused mainly by illegal connections.
Mashangu Shivambu, senior manager for maintenance and operations in the region, said the beleaguered utility loses close to R22bn a year due to non-technical losses, with Gauteng contributing about R7bn to that amount.
On Thursday, Eskom embarked on network audits and a process to remove illegal connections in Marlboro, Johannesburg.
The utility disconnected residents in Setjwetla, Alexandra, who illegally connected their households to substations. Residents there have also built homes under Eskom pylons, which the utility said is dangerous and illegal.
The operation included monitoring the state of electrical infrastructure and illegal activities in the area.
Forming part of the business energy management and losses campaign in Gauteng, it aims to recover lost revenue due to non-adherence to Eskom’s standard conditions of supply.
“[Eskom is losing a lot of money] that we were supposed to use to maintain our plant, making sure we create an infrastructure that will ensure people have reliable electricity,” Shivambu said.
He added that illegal connections lead to faults in the network where customers who are switched off during load-shedding experience unscheduled outages thereafter.
“Customers will be off because we have network faults that are generated by these illegal connections. The connections are not properly done, not protected and as a result [the network trips].”
Shivambu said if Eskom was able to rid itself of all illegal connections in Gauteng, the country would avoid two stages of load-shedding.
TimesLIVE
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