Illegal electricity connections costing billions every year

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

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Illegal electricity chaos in South Africa

The surge in illegal electricity connections in South Africa over the past few years has at least one major municipality pleading for the deployment of soldiers and warning about the potential collapse of its electricity distribution infrastructure.

The country's three biggest metropolitan municipalities — the City of Cape Town, City of Joburg, City of Tshwane — have all recently bemoaned the severity of the issue.
 
The problem here - again - is that there isn't major consequences for stealing electricity. "Everyone" does it, so it is seen as OK.
 
Over volt all illegal connections, and destroy, all and any devices connected to them. Simple solution. No police, no courts, just done.

The cost of replacing your appliances that where using illegally sourced electricity will be justice enough.

You can afford the stoves, geyesers, toasters TV's heaters, and whatever else you connect to your illegal electricity connection, you can afford to pay the electricity they require.
 
The looting at Eskom costs R1m every 30 seconds, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 10+ years running.

bUt DuH il3gul cUnec$hunS!
 
Willie Trombone said:
So how do you over volt illegal connections again?
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Assuming you have a source of 3 phase power on most transformers, as you disconnect the illegal connections, you connect them to a temporary bus bar, connect to the 3 phase, you don’t have wire them in phase either, should do enough damage to the consumer devices that are illegally connected.
 
elf_lord_ZC5 said:
Assuming you have a source of 3 phase power on most transformers, as you disconnect the illegal connections, you connect them to a temporary bus bar, connect to the 3 phase, you don’t have wire them in phase either, should do enough damage to the consumer devices that are illegally connected.
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By that time the angry crowd has already beaten you to death.

Just load the transformer on the back of a truck and start driving away. The illegally connected cables will do the rest...
 
TheMightyQuin said:
By that time the angry crowd has already beaten you to death.

Just load the transformer on the back of a truck and start driving away. The illegally connected cables will do the rest...
Click to expand...

Transformers are heavy, and bulky, and just picking them up with wires all over the place, could potentially be life threatening
 
I'm not surprised affluent households in Pretoria and Joburg are bypassing their meters. From what I've heard their billing systems are an absolute mess and people are gatvol.
 
elf_lord_ZC5 said:
Transformers are heavy, and bulky, and just picking them up with wires all over the place, could potentially be life threatening
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Some bolts and nuts that hold the transformer onto the concrete foundation...power to transformer already turned off...crane hook through eyes on sideframe of transformer...onto flatbed.

Full steam ahead...if a cable yanks a tv or hotplate from a shack, so be it.
 
TheMightyQuin said:
Some bolts and nuts that hold the transformer onto the concrete foundation...power to transformer already turned off...crane hook through eyes on sideframe of transformer...onto flatbed.

Full steam ahead...if a cable yanks a tv or hotplate from a shack, so be it.
Click to expand...

Could work - tho I have doudts about anything being yanked of its support.
 
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elf_lord_ZC5 said:
Over volt all illegal connections, and destroy, all and any devices connected to them. Simple solution. No police, no courts, just done.

The cost of replacing your appliances that where using illegally sourced electricity will be justice enough.

You can afford the stoves, geyesers, toasters TV's heaters, and whatever else you connect to your illegal electricity connection, you can afford to pay the electricity they require.
Click to expand...
No thanks, don't want another Durban riot when they try to get replacements.
 
Without prosecuting people "stealing" electricity, it is absolutely not going to stop. It is theft. It is easy to get evidence as there are cables running into a house with a meter, so it is not wireless / invisible. And if it is not stopped, then yes it is going to spread to affluent suburbs. Little can be then done if others are not being prosecuted, as we are "equal" before the law (unless you are a politician of course, because then you get to prosecute the prosecutor).
 
elf_lord_ZC5 said:
Over volt all illegal connections, and destroy, all and any devices connected to them. Simple solution. No police, no courts, just done.

The cost of replacing your appliances that where using illegally sourced electricity will be justice enough.

You can afford the stoves, geyesers, toasters TV's heaters, and whatever else you connect to your illegal electricity connection, you can afford to pay the electricity they require.
Click to expand...
One dead kid and boom. Mass protest.
 
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