Pretoria - The western region of the capital city has the highest illegal connections to the water and electricity network in Tshwane, followed by those in the north.
According to the City of Tshwane, the illegal connections led to revenue loss and damage to the infrastructure, causing financial constraints on the metro.
However, City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said a plan to curb the illegal connections was in place and effective.
“The City’s Energy and Electricity Department has a weekly operation of going into these areas to normalise installations,” he said.
The City can only identify illegal connections on prepaid meters, but not on conventional metering, according to Mashigo.
He said they were appealing to consumers illegally connected to the electricity and water network to apply for amnesty to avoid fines and criminal charges.
He said very few people had come forward to apply for amnesty, which started on August 1. The closing date is September 30 this year.
The purpose of the amnesty period is to assist residents and business owners guilty of illegally connecting to the electricity and/or water network and benefiting from these services without being measured and paying for consumption.
Tampering with an electricity and/or water meter results in the measuring of incorrect or lower consumption. This, or paying a bribe to remove an outstanding amount on an account; or paying a bribe to illegally open a new municipal account without following the official process; was wrong, as was paying a bribe to have an electricity and/or water meter bypassed to record incorrect or lower consumption, Mashigo added.
The consequences of illegal connections and electricity theft was R200 000 for individual and household accounts and R10 million for business accounts. In addition to these fines, the metro also lay criminal charges and pursue recovery of lost income.
“A highly skilled multidisciplinary revenue-collection team has been established for this purpose, and this extraordinary step is unprecedented in municipalities across the country,” Mashigo said.
Amnesty application forms are available at all City of Tshwane’s customer care walk-in centres across the seven regions of the metro and on the City’s website, but to qualify, customers must submit completed application forms, an affidavit detailing how the tampering and/or illegal connection was installed, and the individual(s) who facilitated the tampering, illegal connection and/or fraud on the account.
“This includes how and to whom money was paid to facilitate the tampering, illegal connection and/or fraud on the account, and the amount paid, and how frequently the bribe money was paid, monthly or once off.”
The City said benefits of applying for amnesty were that in the case of successful prosecution of those implicated in the affidavit, the metering will be corrected and the account holder will start paying for services correctly from the date the amnesty is granted.
“The tampering and illegal connection fine will be waived and no criminal charges will be levied against the person or company granted amnesty.” Mashigo said.
Pretoria News