Eskom cable theft nightmare

Incidents of cable theft relating to Eskom’s electrical infrastructure cost the power utility billions and can result in extended power outages for South African residents, but it is unclear whether Eskom is winning or losing its fight against cable theft.

MyBroadband asked Eskom if incidents of copper cable theft relating to its network have increased or decreased, but it hadn’t answered our questions by publication.

Copper cable theft has been a significant challenge for Eskom. In April 2024, the power utility told MyBroadband that non-technical losses, which include illegal connections, illegal electricity sales, meter tampering, and cable theft, reached nearly 14.4GWh in the 2022/23 financial year.

In terms of cost to the company, this works out to over R5.6 billion over the financial year or roughly R15 million per day.

While this includes several criminal activities that impact Eskom, the power utility previously estimated that the theft of cables, transformers, overhead lines, and conductors costs it around R2 billion per year.

However, this figure could be significantly higher.

According to data from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), the theft of copper cables, overhead lines, copper in conductors, and copper stored for later use costs Eskom between R5 billion and R7 billion per year.

It also spends about R2 billion per year replacing them.

Copper is the second-best conductor behind silver, making it an attractive target for criminal syndicates wanting to sell the mineral on the black market.

The crimes also significantly contributed to the intense load-shedding that South African residents experienced in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Eskom previously said illegal connections add unforeseen electricity demand, while cable theft can result in extensive outages.

“Illegal electricity connections and cable theft often lead to prolonged power outages and compromises the quality of supply, which affects businesses, essential services, as well as the day-to-day lives of society, and this has a negative impact on the economy,” it said.

Eskom is phasing out copper cabling in its networks to address these issues.

“We are moving away from using copper because we have seen that it is quite in demand, so whenever we have any cable that has been stolen, we do not replace it with copper,” Eskom’s Gauteng spokesperson Amanda Qithi said in May 2024.

Qithi didn’t specify with which alternative Eskom is replacing stolen copper cables. However, according to IEWC (formerly Industrial Electric), aluminium is the best alternative.

Qithi also said the power utility has installed vibration detectors on cables to alert its control rooms when cables are being tampered with. However, she said it hadn’t made the impact Eskom had hoped for.

Big jail sentences for cable thieves

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) bill into law, which specifies new consequences for people found guilty of vandalising or stealing electrical infrastructure.

Professor Sampson Mamphweli of the South African National Electricity Development Institute explained that those guilty of these crimes could be sentenced to up to 10 years in jail or face fines of up to R5 million.

“Another big thing with this amendment is the punitive measures on people who damage electricity infrastructure,” he said.

“If you are found with cables and damaging transformers, you could be fined up to R1 million, or five years in jail. If you are found with the part of the infrastructure that was damaged as the recipient, you can be fined up to R5 million or ten years in jail.”

In August 2024, Eskom announced the sentencing of Witness Sibanda, who received 15 years in jail for stealing copper cables at the Camden Power Station.

After noticing movement using the CCTV system, security personnel found Sibanda in possession of copper cables that he had cut and removed from their cable racks.

Eskom estimated the loss to be worth roughly R100,000.