With South Africa losing R20-billion a year to electricity theft, State-owned power utility Eskom is deploying new technologies in a bid to mitigate theft-related losses.

Addressing media during a tour of Eskom’s Research and Innovation Centre in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Eskom anti-electricity-theft campaign manager Madeline Kazinga noted that the country was losing around R5.4-billion a year in non-technical revenue, while municipal loss was around R15.2-billion a year.

Kazinga further pointed out that, globally, $92-billion a year is lost through electricity theft, adding that electricity is the third most stolen commodity in the world – after credit card details and cars.

Eskom’s technology-based interventions mostly comprise the roll-out of smart meters, which are able to record the consumption of electric energy in intervals of an hour or less, and communicate that information back to the utility once a day for monitoring and billing.

Eskom energy and revenue losses manager Dileep John noted that the utility has focused its smart metering roll-out in Sandton and Midrand, with a target range of 30 000 households.

He added that smart prepayment split metering solutions, comprising a meter and a customer interface unit, is also currently being rolled out in Soweto. Split meters enable two-way communication between the meter and a central system.

“The plan is to roll these units out over the next five years to cover Soweto, Midrand and Sandton,” he said.

John noted that the new smart meters undergo rigorous testing at Eskom’s Research, Testing and Innovation Centre to ensure that they perform adequately under all conditions and that their measurements remain durable and accurate for their entire life span.

As smart meter technologies continue to evolve, the infrastructure which allows two-way communications between the central system and the meter may be linked to other in-house devices.

Eskom is also piloting the use of Remote Access Terminals (RATs) in a number of locations countrywide.

The RATs enable Eskom technicians to remotely disconnect or reconnect power supply to any specific customer without physically going to the point of supply.

“The RATs play an important role in ensuring the safety of our staff when they have to do disconnections in dangerous areas, because such operations can now be conducted from the safety of their office.”

The technology also enables Eskom to quickly reconnect customers who have paid a fine, as the technician does not have to physically drive to the point of supply to effect the reconnection.

“Once completed, the new programme, which uses visualisation technology, will enable technicians to compare electricity use among customers in any suburb or even in a townhouse complex to identify those whose use is unusually high.”

“All these interventions will give Eskom an edge in its continued fight against electricity theft,” he said.