Eskom recently told MyBroadband that non-technical losses, including illegal connections, electricity sales, meter tampering, and cable theft, amounted to 13,396GWh during the 2022\/23 financial year \u2014 equivalent to more than R5.5 billion.<\/p>\n
This works out to roughly R15 million per day<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The power utility regularly conducts audits to find and remove illegal connections, but it says the situation is only worsening.<\/p>\n “The illegal electricity connections are worsening due to the informal settlements mushrooming, and in most cases, these end up connecting themselves illegally,” said Eskom.<\/p>\n The power utility said 28% of non-load-shedding-related power outages it responded to between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 resulted from theft, vandalism, and illegal connections.<\/p>\n It added that it must spend millions normalising areas with illegal connections. Eskom said it spent at least R65.9 million doing so in the 2023\/24 financial year.<\/p>\n Eskom senior manager for maintenance and operations Mashangu Xivambu said illegal connections, electricity sales, and cable theft also significantly impact the load-shedding that South African residents experience.<\/p>\n Xivambu said illegal connections add unforeseen electricity demand, making it more complex to manage grid supply.<\/p>\n These activities can also overload the country’s electricity infrastructure, resulting in outages outside of load-shedding.<\/p>\n In June 2023, Xivambu revealed that illegal connections cause higher load-shedding as a result of these effects.<\/p>\n “Customers will be off because we have network faults generated by these illegal connections. The connections are not properly done, not protected, and as a result, the network trips,” he said.<\/p>\n Xivambu said South Africa could avoid two stages of load-shedding by eradicating the illegal connections in Gauteng alone.<\/p>\n However, this is easier said than done. He added that residents often threaten the safety of Eskom workers tasked with removing illegal connections.<\/p>\n Even when Eskom technicians can remove illegal connections, they are often just reconnected.<\/p>\n Cable theft is another substantial contributor to load-shedding and Eskom’s financial woes.<\/p>\n According to the power utility, the theft of cables, transformers, overhead lines, and conductors costs it around R2 billion each year<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Copper cabling is highly targeted by criminal syndicates and opportunists as it carries a high price.<\/p><\/div>\n “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,” Eskom added.<\/p>\n In May 2022, City Power \u2014 the City of Johannesburg’s municipal power utility \u2014 revealed that it spent R100 million in one year<\/a><\/strong> fighting cable theft.<\/p>\n Like with illegal connections, Gauteng appears to be the epicentre of copper cable theft in South Africa.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Eskom-illegal-electricity-connection-box-e1695207407920.jpg\")
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