Lion Park residents face a long and costly wait for electricity

More than 1 400 households in the Lion Park area, who were getting electricity through a sprawling illegal network, now face a long and potentially costly road back onto the grid. Eskom recently ripped out the unauthorised network, removing more than 20 000 metres of aluminium and bundled conductors, 49 transformers, tonnes of illegally installed poles and other infrastructure connected to the national grid without permission. Before legal electricity can flow again, a raft of applications, approvals and land-use processes must still be completed.

And because Lion Park has not been rezoned from agricultural to residential use, Eskom says taxpayers cannot fund the electrification. That leaves residents with one option for now: pay for the new legal network themselves. The power utility disconnected the informal system two weeks ago after several attempts to reach an agreement with residents to formalise their supply and pay for the electricity they consumed.

Eskom said the illegal connections posed serious safety risks and caused significant financial losses. Eskom spokesperson Dadewabo Mbele said the disconnection operation was the culmination of intensive stakeholder engagement and careful planning. Forty-nine transformers, tonnes of illegally installed poles, and other electricity infrastructure were also removed.

[paywall]

Since the Lion Park area has not been re-zoned from agricultural to residential land use and remains under the legal ownership and control of Trust (Amaqamu), Eskom is not legally able to electrify the area through a government-funded electrification programme. “Any such programme is subject to prescribed legislative, planning and governmental approval processes, which must first be concluded before public funding can lawfully be considered or allocated. As a result, the only viable and legally permissible option currently available is the implementation of a customer-funded electrification scheme,” said Mbele.

[/paywall]