Illegal power connections: Tunisia loses over $106m a year

Tunisia loses around $106.8 million annually owing to power theft through illegal connections, an official of the power and gas company (STEG) said Tuesday.

Khaled Makni, head of the STEG energy loss reduction department, told local Shems fm at least 20 thousand Tunisians are involved in the theft cross the country.

The theft occurs either through manipulation of the meter or direct connection to the network without passing through a meter, he said, insisting that the illegal connections happen in various social brackets.

In a bid to curb the illegal activities, STEG is planning to put in place consumption monitoring units at each transformer to allow identification of areas where diversion of electricity is taking place, Makni said.

The company is equally thinking to enhance network infrastructure, in particular the implementation of smart meters, to tackle the phenomenon.