The Operation Khanyisa campaign, established under Eskom’s Energy Losses Management Programme, with the mandate to fight electricity theft in South Africa, is approaching the R1-billion mark in recovery of revenue and prevention of further energy losses for the utility.

Eskom senior manager for energy trading and sales forecasting Maboe Maphak says the initiative is premised on the 'triad-factors' of technology, application of the law and community mobilisation, which, working in tandem, have helped curb theft and prevent losses.

Since the launch of Operation Khanyisa in 2010, it has helped in the recovery of R400-million in revenue for Eskom and the prevention of a further loss in energy valued at R500-million.

Maphaka explains that the revenue recov- ery comes mainly from fines and reconnec-tion fees paid, as well as from revenue recovery charges calculated on the period of time that a customer has been found not to have not been paying for the electricity.

The loss prevention, he said, is derived from the reduction in distribution energy losses, which currently stands at 6.82%, down from 2013’s figure of 7.12% when Eskom lost about R4.1-billion to electricity theft.

“It is no secret that this is a critical time for Eskom, with revenue recovery and protection being one of the key priorities for the utility. It is encouraging to see how the approach of combining enforcement, compliance behavior change, customer education and community mobilisation makes a real impact in driving legal, safe and efficient power usage and helps to unlock revenue streams.”

In 2013, Eskom’s Energy Losses Management Programme took a more stringent approach in the fight against electricity theft when it began implementation of a Customer Compliance Approach (CCA), combining meter auditing, investigation and enforcement with customer education and awareness in an integrated roll-out targeting hot spot areas with high energy and revenue losses.

The CCA is currently being implemented in hot spot areas in the Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the North West.

The CCA has resulted in the arrest of 58 electricity theft suspects and the opening of 34 cases on the court roll. The approach has also led to the clearing of 1.4-million illegal prepaid electricity units from customers’ meters.