MEDIA RELEASE
9 FEBRUARY 2012


STATEMENT BY MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR UTILITY SERVICES, COUNCILLOR SHEHAAM SIMS

I would like to appeal to residents to work with the City of Cape Town in helping to protect our electrical infrastructure. We greatly appreciate it when residents act as our eyes and ears and report incidents of vandalism or abuse.

Unnecessary damage is caused to the City’s electricity network, street kiosks or distribution boxes and other electrical equipment as a result of cable theft and wilful damage. This causes a disruption of the electricity supply to the City’s other law-abiding consumers, while also creating potentially dangerous situations – especially for children.

The cost to repair this damage, and the resultant loss of income, means that there is less funding available for new electrical infrastructure. Resources that could be allocated to bringing electricity to residents in less privileged areas, thereby changing their lives, must instead be allocated to repairs.

In addition, electricity tariffs are forced upwards by this unnecessary expenditure. Theft of cables from live networks, besides being life-threatening to the perpetrator, can cause electrical surges on the network which could damage appliances of the innocent electricity consumer, who will then be faced with the cost of replacing or repairing these appliances, or submitting an insurance claim. The City, generally, does not entertain claims in such cases, as it is not responsible for these system surges.

Cable thefts often leave live wires exposed, which, if touched, can cause serious injury or even death. The resultant impact on the individual and their family, and the country, due to direct costs, lost income and production, can be extremely large.

Tampering with meters is an offence in terms of the City’s Electricity Supply By-law. Those caught having tampered or bypassed the City’s meters will have to pay for all of the costs incurred by the City to reinstate the meter to an operational state. In many instances of tampering, the perpetrators will be required to pay to have their meter moved to a new location, and the City will also recover lost income.

The City has teams which carry out ongoing inspections of meters and catch those who have carried out these illegal acts. The message is clear: Tampering does not pay!

I appeal to the public to please be vigilant and report all instances of vandalism where tampering with meters is suspected, by sending an SMS to 31220 and providing details of the incident. The public can also report any acts of cable or equipment theft to 0800 222 771. All information received will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Those who steal electricity do not steal from the City, but from each and every one of us, because stolen electricity impacts on the tariffs we all have to pay. 


END

ISSUED BY:
COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
CITY OF CAPE TOWN

MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
COUNCILLOR SHEHAAM SIMS
MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR UTILITY SERVICES
CITY OF CAPE TOWN
TEL: 021 400 1375
CELL: 073 115 4447