How to prevent electricity meter-reading nightmares

• Dennis de Necker’s 3-person household received an electricity bill of R563,380 [1 mo.] in May ’15
  • Previous mo. – R4,658
• Inaccurate measurements continue so de Necker now owes City Power R 1.2 million

— Ensure the meter number on your bill is the same as the one listed on the meter itself

— Take photographs of your meter and the meter reading at least once a month

— Don’t install a smart meter

  

KZN’s illegal electricity nightmare

Illegal electricity connections in Cato Crest make life difficult for residents of nearby Manor Gardens who are experience frequent power outages… A community member said the illegal connections are a booming business for electricians, who charged a monthly fee for the connections.  This was costing the eThekwini Municipality R230 million a year, the municipality reported.

http://kormorant.co.za – 22 Sep 2016 — Electricity and infrastructure theft are among the biggest causes of unplanned power outages and have an impact on both the economy and society…

iol.co.za – 16 Oct 2016 – Ekurhuleni – City of Ekurhuleni major Mzwandile Masina has urged residents of the city to “stop illegal connections because this endangering innocent lives”. The city lost an estimated $800-million a year in unaccounted energy use…

timesalive.co.za – 9 Mar 2016 – Johannesburg – Eskom continues to be burdened with unpaid debts by municipalities, R4 billion of which are older than 90 days…

businesstech.co.za – 12 Sep 2016 – Johannesburg — According to the latest Local Government Revenue & Expenditure report by National Treasury, South Africa’s eight biggest municipalities are owed over $56.7 billion by households and businesses. The outstanding debt is attributable to unpaid fees for municipal services such as electricity and water. Three quarters of the total is overdue by 90 days or more. The City of Johannesburg is the biggest culprit, where just over $16 billion is owed, followed by Ekurhuleni, where residents and businesses owe $11.9 billion…

esi-africa.com – 2 June 2015 — Electricity theft is on a steady incline due to the high rate of unemployment and poverty…Eskom is losing billions every year.  …MyBroadband.com reported that South African energy expert Chris Yelland said that an estimated 32% of all electricity delivered by City Power Jahanesburg is lost to theft and non-payment.  …fin24 reported that Eskom loses an estimated ZAR 2 billion ($163 million) annually due to electricity theft.  …Eskom said that as of 31 March 2015, the total municipal arrear debt greater than 30 days wass ZAR 4.6 billion.  Of that amount the top 20 defaulting municipalities are currently indebted to Eskom for ZAR 3.68 billion —

Top 20 defaulting municipalities (in no particular order):

• Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality
• Matjhabeng Municipality
• Emalahleni Local Municipality
• Ngwathe Local Municipality
• Thaba Chweu Local Municipality
• Lekwa Local Municipality
• Govan Mbeki Municipality
• City of Matlosana Local Municipality
• Naledi Local Municipality
• Thabazimbi Local Municipality
• Msukaligwa Local Municipality
• Lichtenburg Municipality
• Nala Local Municipality
• Makana Local Municipality
• Madibeng Local Municipality
• Randfontein Local Municipality
• Dihlabeng Municipality
• Nketoana Local Municipality
• Nama Khoi Local Municipality
• Westonaria Local Municipality

  

According to the City of Tshwane, electricity theft and meter tampering cost the metro ZAR 416 million ($34 million) in the 2013/14 financial year.  This was an 83% increase compared to the previous year.

How people steal electricity

The fatal consequences of power theft were brought into stark relief by the death of Princess Ntuli.  37, she was electrocuted by an illegal connection while she was walking barefoot with a bucket of water on her head in Itshawini, near Stanger in KZN.  The bucket touched a low-hanging live wire and water spilled out. Ntuli died instantly,.

Illegal connections

Operation Khanyisa has said that such theft takes place everywhere and is perpetrated by people from all walks of life, including business people, farmers, and Eskom employees.  Illegal connections are one example of electricity theft — typically involving running a cable from an Eskimo pylon to a home, office, or unsanctioned distribution point.

Another example of electricity theft is meter tampering where an electricity user bypasses Eskom’s meter to avoid paying for the electricity they use.  As with other forms of electricity theft, this happens in communities all over South Africa.

  

How do you discover, and prove, electricity theft?
There are a few ways, most of which are common sense. The first is to see illegal connections to an electricity meter. The second is to compare the readings on all sub-meters within a complex, with the municipal account – where there is a massive under-recovery, chances are that there is electricity theft. An internal audit of the consumption by a particular unit in a complex by check meters, as compared to the metered consumption for that unit, could also reveal that electricity theft is taking place.

What are the consequences for the culprit?
Penalties for stealing electricity are governed by the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Electricity By-laws and the common law. Connection to the main supply by-passing the electrical meter constitutes creation of an unauthorised connection and fraudulent use of electricity.

The culprit could be charged criminally, and face conviction and imprisonment or any of the other conventional criminal penalties. There are other laws such as POCA (the Proceeds of Crime Act) which further allow the appropriate authority (the Hawks) to seize and confiscate assets owned by the culprit, where they were purchased with proceeds of the crime, or used in the commission of the crime (which might include the house itself).

Additionally the culprit could be charged with meter tampering charges by the local authority, and in addition, for deemed consumption charges based on the average of the culprit’s actual metered consumption, for the period in respect of which the theft occurred. Specifically:

• Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with the by-laws shall be guilty of acriminal offence and upon conviction be liable for a fine not exceeding R2,000.00, or 6 months imprisonment. The owner or occupier shall be deemed guilty of the breach of by-law unless can show they did not know and still exercised reasonable diligence in that time period.
• The City of Johannesburg’s practice is to charge a tampering fee of R2,650.40 excluding VAT to the consumer; but this fee is not authorized by their by-laws.
• The municipality has the option of calculating the sum to charge for electricity at the highest rate applicable from the date of contravention. The owner and consumer/occupier will be jointly

POWER / CABLE THEFT HAMPERS ECONOMY

JOHANNESBURG — South African investigators say cable theft caused January’s passenger train derailment near the capital, Pretoria – injuring about 200 people. About 50 meters of electrical cables were stolen, shutting down the railway’s automated signal system. Cable theft is estimated to cost more than a half billion dollars, to the South African economy every year. Each electrical, telecommunications or transport cable stolen can shut down economic activity in a vast area.

Eunice Sethabakgomo’s neighborhood could be a perfect ad for the government’s efforts to help the poor since the fall of apartheid: neat rows of little brick houses line the paved streets in this modern looking village outside of Johannesburg. Everything works well here; except for the street lights.

“We have street lights, but they’re no longer working. Since 2010, they stole the cables,” complained Sethabakgomo. “It is a big problem, especially when the place is dark, that’s when crime happens”

A couple of kilometers away, it’s a different world, but with the same problem. Trevor D’Oliveira owns Avianto, a sprawling complex that specializes in Italian-themed weddings for the Johannesburg upper class. At all times, a camera is aimed at the electricity box that services the complex to try to prevent cable theft.

“We’ve had this cable stolen three times in the last seven years,” said D’Oliveira. “Then it takes a day of two for being repaired, and during that time the generator has to run. To run that generator for a day is probably 3000 rands worth [$340] of diesel. Yet the amount of money the guys get for that piece of cable is probably just a couple hundred rands [$22].”

Cable theft is a massive problem throughout South Africa. Most affected are the big agencies that provide the backbone of the South African economy: the telecommunications agency Telkom, the transport agency Transnet, and the electric company, Eskom.

Maboe Maphaka, senior manager at Eskom, estimates that cable theft costs his company $45 million a year – notwithstanding the damage to its image. It costs the consumer quite a bit of money from power surges which can damage all equipment – computers, TVs, appliances – plugged in at the time.

“When a customer comes down to Eskom to claim for a fridge that has burnt down, and Eskom comes back and say ‘look, we can’t pay you for this because of this, this and that, as customer you are aggrieved’, and then Eskom becomes this uncaring organization,” said Maphaka.

Five years ago, the city of Cape Town created a special unit nicknamed the Copperheads, to fight metal cable theft. Niels Arendse, its spokesperson, says they arrest on average 130 to 140 people every year.

But he says the courts are not taking this crime seriously enough. In 2009 for example, his organization arrested 20 people from an organized group that was conspiring to steal cables. But they only received a warning from the courts.

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry is lobbying for cable theft to be classified as economic sabotage, which would lead to tougher punishment for the culprits.

Neren Rau, the CEO of the chamber, says the move is essential to fight a crime that can slow down the economy: a cable stolen can mean businesses shut down for a day for lack of electricity, cut off internet or phone, trains stuck in a station. Hence, Rau says, there is a disconnect between the relatively low value of the copper stolen and its global implication for businesses.

“Sadly, at the lowest level of theft, it’s merely criminals that are trying to put food on the table,” said Rau. “That’s why in the past we’ve had difficulty prosecuting them, there was a lot of sympathy. But now that we’re looking at the broad implication – we’ve had the derailment in Pretoria – it’s a problem of the economy as a whole.”

The South African Chamber of Commerce is currently leading a study to evaluate the total cost to the economy. Neren Rau says it might be even higher than the current estimate of a half billion dollars a year.