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The utility company said it was taking steps to address network overload and recoup lost revenue caused by illegal connections.
FILE: A street in Alexandra, Johannesburg. Image: Kayleen Morgan / EWN
JOHANNESBURG – City Power claims that only 4% of residents pay for electricity in Alexandra.
The utility company is in the municipality on Wednesday morning with the police, members of JMPD and SANDF to clamp down on illegal connections that cost around R2 billion per year.
“Only 4% of the people in Alexandra pay for electricity today. Only 4% of the people who stay in Alexandra are connected to City Power [and are] City Power customers in Alexandra, “said spokesman Isaac Mangena Eyewitness news on Wednesday.
The areas that are under attack include River Park apartments, Greenville and several houses along London Road. City Power said the problem had been increasing, with infrastructure overloaded due to illegal activities.
Mangena said they had been monitoring these areas before they were identified.
“Alexandra is one of those municipalities that has seen an increase in people coming to stay there, and due to the problems we encountered during the winter where most of our infrastructure was overloaded and exploded, it was in Alexandra.”
The utility company said it was taking steps to address network overload and recoup lost revenue caused by illegal connections.
In August, the Vasco da Gama switching substation exploded as a result of attempted vandalism and theft.
Mangena said: “We also know those areas that are informal that have not been proclaimed by the Department of Human Settlements, those areas suddenly have electricity and we are monitoring them. Some of the illegal connections use our own City Power and Eskom cables. “
The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), soldiers and police officers were part of Wednesday’s operation.
JMPD spokesman Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said: “This operation will be fully supported and all illegal power lines will be confiscated and disposed of at the City Power facility.”
At the same time, Eskom said that tens of thousands of people in parts of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State would be affected by power outages in the morning.
Eskom load reduction notice
Date: September 8, 2020
#Eskom_KZN #Eskom_Mpumalanga #Eskom_FreeState #Eskom_Limpopo
See below for provincial statements with details and areas that will be affected by the load reduction on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 from 05:00 to 09:00 pic.twitter.com/0VFSHHFfVf
– Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 8, 2020
Eskom implemented so-called “load reduction” in the provinces also to avoid network overload in high-density areas.
On the national power front, the power company said it planned to start cutting power at 4 p.m.
Eskom said it had managed to get four generating units back into service and was able to avoid the load outage until Wednesday afternoon.
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