uMngeni takes hard stance against illegal power connections
Mayor Chris Pappas said the increase in illegal power connections posed the single biggest threat to the municipality's financial sustainability.
uMngeni Municipality lost an estimated R44 million in electricity revenue through illegal power connections between July last year and February this year.
Mayor Chris Pappas said the increase in illegal power connections posed the single biggest threat to the municipality’s financial sustainability.
A report on financial losses for electricity, which was tabled at last week’s full council meeting, showed that the municipality had an outstanding electricity debtor’s balance of about R36 million as of February. Included in this was R25 million from Mpophomeni Sections A and B.
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While the municipality has embarked on a programme to clampdown on illegal connections there has been an increase in protests the most recent having been at KwaMevane where municipal staff were threatened while carrying out their duties.
Pappas said the electricity supply was restored to KwaMevane last week after the municipality conducted meter audits and discovered that meters had been bypassed at more than 80% of audited houses.
Residents who are disconnected for having illegal connections manage to easily reconnect to the grid, adding to the woes of the municipality.
A recent municipal report flagged the revenue threat facing the municipality warning that non collection of revenue could lead to cash flow problems, prompting the Executive Committee (Exco) to explore options to deal with the growing problem.
Councillor Pam Passmoor said it was possible that electricians were illegally reconnecting households.
“Because these people are not killing themselves means they know about electricity and have a day job with an electrical firm and a night job doing illegal connections. We need to also look at who employ these people during the day. There’s a business of illegal connections and reconnections going on and we need to focus on that,” said Passmoor.
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Pappas has praised those councillors who have tackled the scourge of illegal connections.
Its not a politically popular thing to do but we have to continue so that we will be able to deliver services.
The municipality will continue with audits and disconnections, as well as update its prepaid vending system.
Pappas said the municipality was seeking access to experts to help explore alternative energy sources.
