So this guy went and "sold" his services to people , some food for thought 

https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/1991243/farm-electricity-meter-tamperer-has-to-pay-eskom-r900k-or-spend-12-years-in-jail/

Lekker man. I like.

We pay more and more for power, when Eskom is forced to increase because off revenues dropping ... to find out that bastards like this help steal from them.

Ja ja, there are other factors but this is just plain blatant theft! Worse than Municipalities not paying. On par with Zupta's thievery.

Another thing I Googled the other day was what are the penalties, if any, when you have a old meter, one that can turn back, on either Eskom or Municipal feed, and you do turn it back.

27 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Lekker man. I like.

We pay more and more for power, when Eskom is forced to increase because off revenues dropping ... to find out that bastards like this help steal from them.

All good yes, but why is penalties only enforced for certain people. What about all the connections that they disconnect in Soweto that is done in the open not even hidden.
You can trace all the connections right down to the shack... How many of those have been fined like these farm owners that had it hidden.
I'm thinking that not even one of them have had to pay anything even after having the illegal connection disconnected multiple times.

5 minutes ago, viper_za said:

What about all the connections that they disconnect in Soweto ...

Because of it being political suicide to go there ... not ANC, EFF and never DA will get that right.

But to add onto Soweto, what about all over the Cape Flats ... it irks me beyond reason at times!

If they are on the free electricity bracket, I have no issue. Just no way to tell.

36 minutes ago, viper_za said:

All good yes, but why is penalties only enforced for certain people. What about all the connections that they disconnect in Soweto that is done in the open not even hidden.

They do enforce it. I suppose it has simply become so common place that we don't ever hear about it anymore. Like cable theft...

5 minutes ago, plonkster said:

They do enforce it. I suppose it has simply become so common place that we don't ever hear about it anymore. Like cable theft...

If you can show me that it's enforced in those other "problem areas" I might just cool down on this a little

Just now, viper_za said:

If you can show me that it's enforced in those other "problem areas" I might just cool down on this a little

I think it is a matter of profile and number of operators. One guy reconfiguring meters for large consumers... that is a high profile thing. It makes the news. Hundreds of small-time Izenyoka running around, you catch maybe 5. The one high profile one makes the news, the 5 small ones doesn't. Now don't get me wrong, of course that very well means more needs to be done about the problem, but I think TTT is right about that. Not only might it be politically expedient to look the other way... it's also somewhat dangerous for officials to go in and disconnect such connections. So what I am saying is that it is enforced, but not quite as well as we need it to be... for reasons we actually all know :-(

6 minutes ago, plonkster said:

for reasons we actually all know :-(

Yup and that is what p!$$es me off
 

I'm more talking about the guys that had to pay fines for having the meters tampered with not the one doing the tampering.
Rules are only being applied selectively, like lots of other things that I should not even mention.

47 minutes ago, plonkster said:

... it's also somewhat dangerous for officials to go in and disconnect such connections.

Not somewhat, it is downright dangerous to disconnect these connections.

Ask any official that has been tasked with disconnections in less affluent areas. They don't dare. They can be seriously hurt, even killed.

More affluent areas, if that one person vehemently disagrees, you can ask for police assistance, take the person to court afterwards for intimidation / threatening your life.

 

44 minutes ago, viper_za said:

I'm more talking about the guys that had to pay fines for having the meters tampered with ...

Referring to this in that article above? "Eskom customers who had paid Ferreira for his illegal services were fined a total of R229 000."

 

Farmers pay a LOT towards Eksom supply.
Installing a solar system with a Axpert and batteries and a gennie, per kw/h, that is cheaper than Eskom line fees and cost per kw. Not so?

And they don't have to register shiite. :-)

3 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Installing a solar system with a Axpert and batteries and a gennie, per kw/h, that is cheaper than Eskom line fees and cost per kw. Not so?

I recently spend some time with a elderly couple (Both 80 years old) to try and streamline a selfbuild MixedPanels-UPs-BlownControler-Genertor-Setup. (with their pension running out at alarming rate) They are looking for the most cost effective way of having power for how ever long they will still be around to use it. 

They have bought the farm in 1957 and never had a Eskom connection. They made plans with all above to keep them going. Bats are shot due to total abuse and lack of knowledge and panels about 20 years old, 600 watt in total, producing 380 Watt at best. One of my questions were, did you look at Eskom as an option and the old man pulled out some paperwork with the cost of bringing a line to the farm, the transformer and then accounts from all the neighbors. Lets forget about the new line and transformer cost, only the line fees in that area equals the amount they are spending on Diesel for the generator per month. Add the usage and the old man is better off generating his own power. He has made the calculations on maintaining the  generator and hope never to overall the engine again in his lifetime and decided never to see Eskom as option. 

He also decided to stick to his old ways, due to the lack of funds, and will replace his 2 year old sealed recreational's with a new set of sealed recreational's. I could have supplied Trojans (1.5 times the Ah and a blue Mppt) at 1.5 Times the price of the recreationals he was looking at and would have thrown in a 702 and 4 x 150 watt panels I bought from a forum member when he upgraded. 

Sad part is, when I tried to throw stuff in, the old man pulled out and told me, this cant be true and that he thinks I am trying to screw him over somehow. Haven't heard from him since....    

4 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

a gennie, per kw/h, that is cheaper than Eskom line fees and cost per kw. Not so?

Seems like this is the case, or for the old man at least, it is true.  

21 minutes ago, Jaco de Jongh said:

Sad part is, when I tried to throw stuff in, the old man pulled out and told me, this cant be true and that he thinks I am trying to screw him over somehow. Haven't heard from him since....   

Ouch. No medication for that unfortunately.

FWIW. The J200RE's, 12v 200ah Trojan's are not that much more than 2 x 100ah leisure batteries. At 1600 cycles versus wot, 200-350,  they completely become very much cheaper.

26 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

At 1600 cycles versus wot, 200-350

I have made the comparison on the 150Ah Trojan's rated at 1200 cycles at 50% DOD vs 300 Cycles at 10-20% DOD. You can effectively get 10 x more out of the Trojans in discharge alone and then 4 times more in cycles at 1.5 x the cost. 

Edited August 17, 20186 yr by Jaco de Jongh