Eskom to get tough on illegal connections with fines and prosecution for offenders

10 Jan 2025

Following the recent upgrade of pre-paid electricity meters to the KRN2 configuration, Eskom is set to intensify efforts to fight all forms of electricity theft by executing disconnections and introducing significant punitive measures.

According to Eskom, repeat/third-time offenders will face criminal prosecution, second-time offenders will be fined up to R12,000 and first-time offenders will be liable for a R6,052 fine.

“Eskom is implementing its intensified plan to address illegal connections, which includes auditing all households where no buying transactions are recorded,” the power utility told Daily Maverick via email.

Meter upgrades

After a period of anxiety, chaos and even one death, millions of households have had their pre-paid electricity meters upgraded to the KRN2 meters.

Read more: ‘It’s chaos’ — Eskom prepaid meter scramble leads to death in Soweto

“A total of 5.64 million customers have been recoded out of 7.25 million. About 100,000 have been fined, with 15,000 (already) having paid their fine in full or partially,” the power utility said.

As Eskom embarks on a new path towards improving its services, it has had its fair share of troubles. The power utility has had to stave off load shedding under the watchful eye of the local media, which ensured that it did not evade scrutiny.

During Eskom’s results presentation on Thursday, 19 December 2024, a significant scheme was revealed through which some Eskom employees had colluded in a massive operation to generate large numbers of illegal prepaid power tokens. This scheme exploited vulnerabilities in Eskom’s online vending system that allow for the creation and distribution of fraudulent tokens.

Colossal losses

While Eskom’s meter upgrade programme was criticised for being harsh and bullish, drastic interventions were inevitable considering the power utility’s losses.

By Eskom’s own admission, the 2024 financial year was exceptionally challenging, both operationally and financially. Eskom recorded a net loss of R9.1-billion, an improvement from the R34.6-billion in the financial year 2023 to R25. 5-billion in the 2024 financial year.

As Eskom ramped up planned maintenance to implement the generation recovery plan, diesel expenditure rose to R33.9-billion in the financial year 2024 from R29.6-billion during the 2023 financial year.

Read more: Eskom keeps the lights on and sees profits on the horizon, but serious financial and governance problems persist

This also affected load shedding, which surged to 329 days from 280 days in the 2024 financial year.

As things stand currently at Eskom, the country has gone 288 days without load shedding.

However, the utility saw 13,824GWh lost to electricity theft in 2024 and absorbed approximately R6.4-billion in total non-technical estimated revenue losses.

Soaring costs affect affordability

The millions of people who failed to pay for their electricity advanced various reasons for their defaulting, and prominent among these was affordability. Many people said they could not afford the exorbitant cost of electricity.

“In as much as the zero buyers are a combination of those who are not indigent and those who are, the government offers indigents free basic electricity,” Eskom said.

“Customers who fall under this category can contact their local municipality to register to apply for the 50kWh free basic electricity. Eskom is also working on applying for a higher free basic electricity — up to 150kWh.”

However, Soweto interim electricity crisis committee chairperson Mduduzi Makhubu said: “No one has benefited from the free 50kW that Eskom is talking about because they just raised the tariffs, making it even more difficult for the working class to have access to affordable electricity.

“It’s just a publicity stunt to make Eskom look good while we all know it’s brutal in its approach to the crisis,” he added. “Public education from Eskom is still lacking, making it more difficult for the working class to… access… information.” DM

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Business Maverick

Meter upgrades

Colossal losses

Soaring costs affect affordability