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The Eastern Free State was a hive of activity in October as Eskom visited the region’s three towns of Harrismith, Qwaqwa and Warden in the space of one week as part of its campaign to promote the legal and safe use of electricity in the province.

On 20 October residents in the township of Intabazwe, Harrismith became the focal point when Eskom technicians went from house to house conducting electricity meter audits to detect possible electricity theft including illegal connections, meter tampering and bypassing, the use of illegal prepaid vouchers, and all other forms of electricity theft.

Lindi Mthombeni, General Manager for Eskom’s Free State Operating Unit, who led a delegation of media on a tour to witness the meter auditing work said: “Electricity theft is a serious problem in all provinces across the country. In the Free State, for instance, our electricity theft related losses spiked beyond five percent in the 2015/16 financial year while we had managed to keep this figure below the five percent level for the previous two financial years.”

“Intabazwe is one of the areas in the region where high levels of electricity theft are experienced. This is why we are here today,” she explained during the tour. “However, our approach is not only punitive. We also engage in extensive community education work as part of Operation Khanyisa, the Eskom-led national campaign aimed at promoting the safe and legal use of electricity.”

Mthombeni was referring to initiatives like the electricity safety education campaign that is taking place in Intabazwe on 21 October, preceded by similar activities in Qwaqwa a day earlier and in Warden the week before, where members of the community received important information about electricity safety.

Speaking about the impact of Operation Khanyisa, Mthombeni said that Eskom’s national electricity theft-related losses have reduced from 7.12% in 2013 to 6.43% in 2016, which translates to a saving of R1.4 billion every year in electricity that would have been generated at a loss. In the same period the utility has recovered about R618-million in revenue from non-paying customers.

“We are thankful to all members of the public who have taken a stand against electricity theft and ask all South Africans to continue reporting perpetrators of this crime by sending anonymous SMS tip-offs to 32211 (R1/ SMS),” she concluded.

Issued by Eskom