Rampant electricity theft, which is one of the knotty problems facing the City of Tshwane, will soon be addressed by installing electricity metres to informal settlements and some RDP houses which have been illegally connected to the grid.
This was according to newly-appointed MMC for Finance Eugene Modise, who said installing power meters to households in informal settlements would be another means of collecting revenues and curb electricity theft.
According to the City’s qualified audit report issued by the Auditor-General for 2022/2023 financial year, Tshwane incurred material electricity losses of R2.4 billion, which represents 21.46% of total electricity purchased.
In August, the City launched an operation in Mamelodi R3 and R4, where a transformer connected to the grid was removed and confiscated.
Residents in the area had installed the transformer with a wall of bricks built around.
They blamed the City for failing to ensure residents in the area have access to electricity.
Early this year, residents of Gomora informal settlement took to the streets after the City removed their illegal electricity connections to the area.
Protesters used burning tyres to barricade the entrance to the settlement, disrupting traffic flow.
The City, on the other hand, strongly condemned acts of violence and illegal electricity connections.
Modise, an ANC deployee, previously accused the former DA-led multiparty coalition administration of failing to collect revenues.
Under the multiparty coalition government, the City embarked on an aggressive revenue collection drive called Tshwane Ya Tima targeting customers defaulting on payments and disconnecting them from water and electricity supply.
He vowed that the City would ramp up its revenue collection through an initiative to install electricity metres to informal settlements, which would be one of the priorities of the current government.
“The first thing that we are going to do is to ensure that the revenue collection is upgraded and all our people get services. There are many informal settlements and RDP houses that don’t have electricity and we are losing revenue in the process because they are stealing electricity,” he said.
He said the plan was to speak to affected communities with a view to install meters for the purpose of generating a source of revenue for the municipality.
“We are going to make sure that service delivery is not compromised; it doesn’t have colour and it doesn’t have a designation. That is what we are intending to do,” he said.
Modise said a recovery plan would be unveiled to the public on Thursday and also outline how the plan would be sustainable.
The previous administration was constantly criticised for struggling to settle a whopping R6bn debt owed by the municipality to Eskom.
Modise said: “We have beautiful news to announce now; the minister of electricity (Kgosientso Ramokgopa) has said he is going to assist us in terms of attending to Eskom’s debt, which is R6bn. That will give us relief and we will be able to run the City professionally and make sure that our people are happy.”
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