Three of City Power’s contractors were arrested on Tuesday, at Beverley Gardens, in Randburg.
The local power utility said it acted on intelligence received, and caught the three red handed, extending the excavation of an underground cable, from 20 metres to 50 metres.
Investigations revealed that the excavation was extended without authorisation.
In addition, the contractors took materials to some other storage facility instead of an approved salvage yard.
Approximately 20 metres of 120mm aluminium cable was recovered and secured as evidence.
The suspects were arrested on site, for interfering with critical electricity infrastructure at the corner of Roos and Geduld streets.
They are aged between 35 and 42.
Charles Tlouane, City Power’s Acting CEO, said non-technical losses, driven by illegal connections, meter tampering, electricity bypasses, insider abuse, infrastructure theft and organised sabotage, represent electricity that the utility purchases and distributes but cannot bill or recover revenue for.
“The result is a growing financial haemorrhage that weakens grid stability, increases operational pressure and unfairly shifts the burden onto paying customers and compliant businesses” he said.
Picture: Supplied