Residents caught stealing electricity or tampering with their power boxes could be fined up to R15 000, or even face jail time, should changes to the electricity bylaw be approved.
The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality wants to give residents an amnesty period to allow them to come clean if they are stealing electricity to avoid fines or prosecution.
It is reviewing the electricity tampering bylaw to allow for prosecution.
Should the bylaw get the nod from the council, offenders could be fined between R4 000 and R15 000 if they are caught out by the municipality.
The city has lost about R236.6-million in revenue due to electricity losses between July last year and March .
Electricity and water losses were also flagged by auditorgeneral Kimi Makwetu in the municipality’s audit report for the 2016-17 financial year.
Electricity and energy acting executive director Bernhardt Lamour, who presented the plan to the infrastructure portfolio committee yesterday, said electricity losses had increased.
“One of the contributing factors to the non-technical losses is as a result of tampering,” he said.
“Although there are punitive measures to address tampering, there is a still a challenge experienced, especially with indigent customers who cannot afford to pay the charges.”
Lamour said amnesty would only be granted to domestic users.
“The amnesty process provides the opportunity for [residents] who have tampered with municipal equipment to apply for amnesty in order for the municipality to normalise the tampered conditions.”
It is unclear when the bylaw would be presented to the committee before it can be taken for a round of public participation.
Lamour said officials would later approach the South African Police Service.Lamour will also consult the budget and treasury department before the project can officially start.
The request to grant amnesty comes as the municipality struggles to completely eradicate illegal connections in Bay townships, with scores of residents demanding RDP houses instead of formal electricity.
Director for electrification of informal areas Elwyn Williams warned the department would not meet its target for providing serviced sites to residents who live in shacks.
“Human settlements reported to us that there are more than 10 000 sites that need to be occupied by people who have been relocated and it is just not happening,” Williams said.
He said the affected areas were informal settlements in flood plain areas in the Chatty Dip and Veeplaas which were meant to be a priority for relocation.
“There are many sites, for example in Joe Slovo West, but people are not moving to those sites,” Williams said.
He said he suspected the delays were caused by the screenings process in the human settlements department, among others.
“There are also different lists that the department is working from dating back to 2013.
“Because of infighting and demands that are made by people who have refused to be relocated because they want houses, we can’t go in there,” Williams said.
Infrastructure, engineering, electricity and energy portfolio head Masixole Zinto said the request for amnesty was a progressive one.
“It is very wrong for people to steal our electricity,” Zinto said.
DA councillor Thobani Noqoli said the reports of residents who did not want formal electricity was a matter of concern.
“There is something very wrong with what I am hearing here. This is very sad to hear because we all know the history of Walmer [township].”