Tanesco loses Sh200 million to power theft in Arusha

Arusha. Troubled national power utility Tanesco made a loss of over Sh200 million from January to December this year, mainly through illegal connections in Arusha Region alone, officials have said.

The revelation comes after recent reports of a Sh150 million loss Tanesco incurred in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro Region.

At least 235 suspects have been arrested over the thefts. They are also accused of vandalism.

A Tanesco official in charge of customer care and public relations, Mr Saidi Mremi, regretted that the organisation continued to incur huge losses through illegal connections of power supply. He warned that this could lead to failure to supply power to genuine consumers because of the loss of the badly needed revenue for maintenance of the power lines and the entire infrastructure.

He revealed that a special operation to arrest the defaulters in and around Arusha was underway. However, he did not reveal when it would commence.

A security officer with the power utility Richard William said the operation would also include inspecting the electricity metres for all consumers to ensure they were in good working order and that none had been tampered with.

Acting regional manager Donasiano Shamba said due to the increasing theft or vandalism of the organisation’s properties such as power cables and transformers worth millions of shillings, Tanesco would award anybody who would give information that leads to recovery of the lost property or money.