VANDALISM & THEFT
VANDALISM
Vandalism is the act of damaging property that belongs to someone else, which is a criminal offence. In the case of TANESCO, the objective of the perpetrators is to steal components like oil from the transformers or the transformers themselves and other crucial items that are essential to supply of electricity.
Whenever TANESCO’s transformers are vandalized, the company not only incurs heavy losses but its customers are forced to go without electricity until the damaged equipment is replaced. Most common acts of vandalism affecting TANESCO include stealing transformer coolants, felling tower members and stealing distribution cables. Vandalism commonly affects TANESCO’s transmission and distribution lines especially in Dar es Salaam, Coast, Morogoro, Iringa, Mwanza and Shinyanga regions.
VANDALIZED TRANSFORMERS FROM YEAR 2000 – 2006
YEAR | NUMBER OF TRANSFORMER VANDALIZED | TOTAL COST OF THE DAMAGED TRANSFORMERS (cost does not include value of energy loss or impact on economy) |
2000 | 33 | 165 million/= |
2001 | 74 | 368 million/= |
2002 | 98 | 492 million/= |
2003 | 131 | 653 million/= |
2004 | 261 | 1,304 billion/= |
2005 | 199 | 996 million/= |
2006 | 164 | 820 million/= |
| 959 | 4,798 billion/= |
INVESTIGATION TEAM
In November, 2006 the Government decided to form an Investigation Committee which will examine in depth the problem of vandalism of the power infrastructure, and report to the Prime Minister on the cause of the problem and what steps should be taken to curb the menace permanently. The Committee was supposed to hand over its report before the end of December, 2006.
ELECTRICITY THEFT
Tampering with an electricity meter with the objective of stealing electricity is also a criminal offence. Theft of electricity is not only illegal but also dangerous because interference with electrical installations can result in short circuits leading to other hazards, which includes fire outbreak.
IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSUMERS OF ELECTRICITY
The theft of electricity is a challenge that needs to be eradicated if the electricity distribution industry is to remain sustainable and viable. Interruptions: Illegal connections often tend to overload the system thereby causing tripping which result in power interruptions. The overload could even affect neighbouring areas. Interruptions that are due to this feature are not the fault of the local distributor.
• The overload could also result in overvoltages which could damage appliances of paying customers. These customers would have no way to seek recourse to supplier, as these problems did not result from his side of the network or negligence from his part.
• It results in loss of revenue: The distributors need to get their money’s worth from the electricity bought from generators of electricity. Income from electricity sales boosts the viability and helps the distributor to stay in business. Theft of electricity therefore poses a threat to providing future generations with electricity.
It stalls electrification: Loss of income means less money going to the electrification programme. This means that people without electricity will have to wait a while longer to be electrified.
It is not safe: In the majority of cases illegal connections are dangerous as cables are often exposed and could result in a loss of life.
It affects the price of electricity: Loss of income from loss of sales means that this shortfall has to be recovered somewhere. This implies an increase in the tariff. And who is ultimately affected? Customers who pay for their electricity as these losses are built in tariff increases.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
1. Advise your neighbour of the implication of this action;
2. Advise your neighbour on how to apply for a connection;
3. Inform your neighbours perhaps they might advise how best to deal with the matter;
4. Raise the matter in your community/civic structures;
5. Report the matter to the police, if need it be;
6. Notify your distributor if you know that someone is stealing electricity, and you may be handsomely rewarded.
Remember: As a consumer of electricity you have the obligation to pay for the services received. If you have problems keeping up with our account payments, budget for it every month. Theft of electricity affects all consumers not only in your area but in other areas as well, as it has a ripple effect.
Imechangiwa na tovuti ya TANESCO.
HOTLINE CENTRE
TANESCO Informer Reward System was introduced in June, 2004 with the primary objective of combating vandalism and electricity theft. A Hotline Fraud Centre was established at the Dar es Salaam City Centre (George’s Grill) so that ordinary people can walk in and give voluntary information on people they know or suspect steal electricity, steal tower members and distribution cables, and other unethical behaviour which affect the power industry. Tip – offs resulting into recoveries or convictions are being rewarded by TANESCO, and they range from T.shs. 50,000/- to 500,000/= depending on the magnitude and class of offence. Since its inception, the Hotline Centre has borne fruits to the Company. For instance, in 2005 in Dar es Salaam alone, 695 tip-offs (on electricity theft alone) were received and followed up. 331 cases were proved to be true of which 237 cases involved meter tampering, 48 meter bypass, 28 cases were customers loaded with stolen LUKU energy tokens, 10 had un-metered supply and 8 had illegal service lines. Members of the public are invited to use this facility by contacting the Fraud Hotline numbers 022 122788-90.
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