Johannesburg - Power utility City Power has called on local communities and businesses to participate in its programme to combat crime against electricity infrastructure.
City Power said infrastructure crimes such as cable theft, vandalism, and electricity theft in the form of metre tampering and illegal connections have a continuous impact on City Power's business operations, resulting in significant revenue loss and a negative impact on service delivery to residents of Johannesburg.
“Since the start of the fiscal year, the entity has recorded approximately 1 300 incidents of cable theft and vandalism, with arrests approaching 200. The entity recorded 2 175 incidents of cable theft and vandalism in the 2021/2022 fiscal year," City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.
Mangena said that through the community partnership programme, which seeks to build long-term partnerships with communities and the business fraternity through the sharing of information, City Power pledges to safeguard municipal electricity infrastructure from crimes like theft, destruction, tampering, or illicit connections; establish long-lasting collaborations with community-based structures; deepen community co-operation in the fight against infrastructure crimes; and continue steady and open communication on security risk factors and vulnerabilities affecting City Power energy infrastructure.
City Power said parties interested should fill out the application form (Annexure A) with the type of network infrastructure, its physical location, the security measures to be installed, and any other relevant information.
“Please submit a separate list as an addendum to the application if you have more than one electrical installation. Applications should be sent to [email protected], the General Manager: Security Management,” City Power said.
The Star