Eskom beefs up security to minimise vandalism and theft at its power stations

With Eskom fighting hard to overturn its fortunes and financial standing, the power utility has had to implement new security measures.

Eskom wants to fight an increase in conductor theft and vandalism across its infrastructure including coal, diesel, and copper thefts.

The vandalism and thefts have led to a loss of profits and increased replacement costs, Eskom said on Thursday.

Among these measures, Eskom is reviewing its contractor performances and investing in the monitoring of its existing coal security controls.

Just last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa dispatched the South African National Defence Force to beef up security at all power stations.

“In the past week (until December 18), an increase in conductor theft and vandalism incidents were noted across Eskom,” said Eskom.

“It has implemented strict compliance monitoring of its existing coal security controls such as the monitoring of weigh-bridges, the use of tamper-proof seals, private investigations, coal quality determination by third parties, coal quality verification at source and destination, etc.

“Eskom is also actively investigating and implementing a range of new technologies to identify fraudulent activities and detect contaminated coal.”

In response to Business Report, Eskom’s media section announced that it had had to suspend the suppliers and subject them to investigations for appropriate action to be taken.

This included supplier reviews and disciplinary processes, including civil litigation for recovery of damages and losses.

This comes on the back of a finding by the Economic Sabotage of Critical Infrastructure (ESCI) Forum in September where it discovered an increase in vandalism across all state-owned enterprises was costing South Africa over R45 billion every year.

The beleaguered power supplier said it was being more vigilant in monitoring the coal-supply value chain and related deliveries 24/7 and would address anomalies using contractual remedies and the appropriate management controls.

“Eskom will announce identified anomalies when appropriate,” it said.

BusinessTech Africa also posted that a truck driver and his supervisor from a transport company subcontracted to haul coal to Eskom were arrested at Matla power station – he was found to be in possession of sub-grade coal destined for the facility.