The Gauteng provincial government and State-owned Eskom have agreed to implement joint action to deal with ongoing disruptions in electricity supply in several areas within the province.
The provincial government, led by special adviser to the premier on service delivery and political management Eric Mxolisi Xayiya, met with Eskom’s management earlier this week to discuss the ongoing problems regarding the increasing number of repeated equipment failures in some areas of Gauteng.
Embattled Eskom previously reported that there were increasing incidences of illegal connections, which led to overloading and subsequently to the failure of transformers and minisubstations.
This includes meter tampering, electricity theft and vandalism of infrastructure.
Increased equipment failure also had a significant negative impact on operations, finances and the safety of employees and the public at large, Eskom said.
Attempts by Eskom to restore power supply to areas that have experienced repeated failures owing to illegal connections and meter tampering are being hampered by violent resistance in the affected communities.
The statement also noted that Eskom technicians were often denied access to affected areas to conduct audits and necessary repairs to damaged equipment.
In this respect, the provincial government would enlist the support of law enforcement agencies to ensure Eskom was able to restore electricity supply to legal and paying customers in all the affected areas in the province.
Eskom will also be conducting audits and remove illegal connections, fix bypassed meters, issue tamper fines and, ultimately, restore electricity supply to paying customers.