NELSON Mandela Bay Municipality member of the mayoral committee for electricity and energy, Luxolo Namette, has issued a stern warning that the municipality would be coming after residents who tamper with electricity to avoid paying for it.
Namette issued this warning when he recently conducted an unannounced operation in the Korsten central business district.
The intention of the operation was to identify and cut off those who have tampered with municipality electricity meter boxes, to avoid being billed for usage.
The operation also forms part of the broader programme by the directorate to stop illegal connections, cable theft and tampering with electricity infrastructure.
The other leg of the programme simultaneously focuses on the electrification of shacks and assistance of the indigent to access electricity.
During the operation in Korsten, the team, led by Namette, visited more than 15 large shops in Durban Road to inspect their electricity connections for possible tampering.
In some shops, shop owners bypassed the meters to connect directly.
Other shops in different buildings were found to be connected to one meter that had been tampered with.
When questioned, those involved claimed to be renting electricity from their landlord and that they did not know how he detected their usage.
The municipality subsequently switched off supply to four shops that were found to have transgressed. They will be issued with fines of up to R8 000.
According to the NMBM, the metro is currently losing approximately R300 million in potential revenue annually, due to illegal connections and tampering.
“I would like to send a strong warning to residents and businesses who continue to tamper with our infrastructure that we are coming for you.
“We have done our groundwork and identified a number of areas that we will be focusing on due to the prevalence of this act in that particular area.
“We have got different teams operating simultaneously,” Namette said.
He added that the connection of shacks is proceeding very well in areas like KwaDwesi Extension and Wells Estate in Motherwell.
“The removal of illegal connections is also underway in different areas. The approach we are taking is that we want to eliminate all the reasons for illegal connections and account for every electricity line that is used.
This way, we will save a lot of money that can be channelled towards renewable energy projects and maintenance of our infrastructure,” Namette explained.
