Marokane: Eskom not yet able to put figure to losses from prepaid electricity fraud

CAPE TOWN - In spite of its turnaround efforts, corruption continues to dog the power utility, Eskom. 

It's currently investigating what its CEO, Dan Marokane, has called "sophisticated fraud" in its electricity token vending system. 

The company on Thursday said this investigation was partly to blame for the late tabling of its financial statements for the 2023/24 financial year, in which it’s reporting a post-tax loss of R55 billion. 

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Marokane said it was not yet able to put a figure to the extent of the losses from the prepaid electricity fraud.

The recent last-minute scramble to update prepaid electricity meters unearthed the extent of zero-paying customers, with Eskom estimating at least 2.1 million people are not paying for their electricity. 

In the past financial year, Eskom said it suffered losses of R23 billion as a result of illegal tokens and the bypassing of electricity meters.  

But Marokane said that the financial impact of fraudulent token sales was still the subject of an intense forensic investigation. 

"What we have reported and can say now is that it can only be possible through collaboration with people internally in the business and those who are outside." 

Marokane said that the investigation would hopefully home in on how the illegal transactions were happening. 

"It's still a very delicate investigation going on. It's not straightforward, and hence the process of getting the auditors to the point of having a view of how to approach it, took quite long."

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that despite Eskom's best efforts to root out corruption within the institution, there were those within who remained hellbent on undermining these efforts.