Ongoing pressure from the Democratic Alliance (DA) has led to some steps being taken to curb electricity losses in Dawid Kruiper Municipality (DKM), but much more needs to be done.
Since January 2022, theft to the value of R7.3 million was identified resulting in disconnections. In order to realise income from huge arrears accounts, council decided to allow users to make monthly payment agreements to enable them to purchase electricity. Only R 1,2 million from R8 million was recovered to date.
The allocation of 300 electricity meters which were not allocated to an account, is a further indication of the negligence that happened prior to 2022. It points to a huge lack of control. It is questionable as to how many more meters there are without any accounts?
In June 2023, 19 cases of electricity theft were identified. Ongoing theft can be contributed to staff shortages and ineffective monitoring of electricity resources.
Currently there are still six posts vacant in the department of electricity. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), recommended changes to the staff in January 2021 that had to be completed by July 2023. This has not been achieved yet. There now seems to be political interference to make unscheduled personnel changes that were not approved by council, which the DA will challenge.
There is a further lack of maintenance of electricity infrastructure, which gets particularly damaged during loadshedding. Poles that got ridden over are not replaced probably because of inadequate funds. There are also many streetlight globes that are not replaced and many critically important traffic lights have been out of work for months and even years.
The DA demands that the municipality urgently responds to the NERSA recommendations of January 2021. The internal electricity crisis must be fixed by appointing a full staff component which must be fully capacitated and fit for purpose. If the staff component on which the NERSA recommendations were made two years ago is outdated, Council must be duly informed.
The DA will also table a motion for a full audit on electricity infrastructure and a forensic audit, to shed more light on electricity losses and illegal connections and usage.