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City Power has returned to a
residential building on Twist Street that was found to have illegally reconnected itself to the electricity network.
Johannesburg’s City Power says its own internal investigation has revealed that some of the illegal electricity connections are implemented by its employees and contractors.
The power utility says it dismissed five workers yesterday for this and other crimes.
Several other employees are undergoing internal disciplinary processes while criminal cases have been opened against some.
City Power and Johannesburg Water are today conducting a joint operation to disconnect illegal water and electricity connections in the inner city.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says in the past financial year, the utility lost about R4 billion from illegal electricity connections.
Mangena says, “We buy electricity from Eskom, but a quarter of that electricity does not find its way to our customers and us making revenue from it because of the informal settlements that are mushrooming in the City of Johannesburg. Most of those have electricity that is illegally connected. But also because of the vandalism of the infrastructure.”
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