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Eskom and law enforcement clamp down on a large-scale illegal electricity connection operation in Leeupoort near Fochville in Gauteng on 04 December 2024.
Power utility Eskom says it has been disconnecting and fining non-compliant electricity users and community members who have illegal connections.
This follows the utility’s recoding process for pre-paid meter users which took place last month.
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena says while hundreds of thousands of users have since complied, there are still scores who are yet to pay the R6 000 fine.
“This issue of energy theft, where we are currently – we started with consumers that were illegally consuming electricity. We started with a number of about 2.2 million – and with the KRN, these consumers showed themselves up (and) we managed to get about 400 000 people that started buying. So, we’re sitting at about 1.7 million customers currently that are illegally connected or consuming electricity illegally.”
The power utility says illegal connections and electricity theft burden transformer loads.
During a media briefing last month on an update on the recoding process, Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said some of the problems experienced with the process were due to illegal connections.
