Electricity Theft: A Reason to Deploy Smart Grid in South Africa

Electricity theft is a menace in Africa and the world at large. South Africa is one of the countries in Africa that could largely boast of a reliable electricity supply. However, this reliability could be jeopardized by the incessant electricity theft that is ravaging the country. As a result of electricity theft, Eskom, the national electricity utility provider and the municipalities run into geometric losses amounting to at least R20 billion annually. Deployment of Smart Grid (SG) would drastically reduce electricity theft as a result of improved flexibility, security and reliability brought about by the system. Also, with the SG advantage of the incorporation of renewable energy generation into the conventional electrical power grid, the current tentative outage of electricity brought about by load shedding in the country would be nipped in the bud. This paper analyses the huge merits of SG technology and how it would assist in curbing the scourge of electricity theft in South Africa.