A view of Eskom MV electrical box at Dube Community Hall in Johannesburg. Picture: Gallo Images/Fani Mahuntsi South Africa’s state-owned electricity provider, Eskom, announced in early March 2026 that it would cut off the power to 14 municipalities that collectively owe it more than R110 billion (US$6.5 billion). Energy economist Roula Inglesi-Lotz describes the growing crisis in South Africa’s power system, where many municipalities can’t pay their bulk electricity bills due to poor governance, weak finances, and low payment rates from consumers.
She sets out why cutting the supply won’t help Eskom get paid but could harm low income communities. Eskom went through many tough years burdened by high debt levels, rising operating costs, declining electricity sales and corruption scandals. During that time, it required repeated cash injections from the government totalling R230 billion (US$13.7 billion) and increased the cost of electricity numerous times.
Recently, the utility has brought in higher revenues and profits, driven largely by tariff increases, even as electricity sales volumes decline. But the turnaround has been put at risk by the 14 municipalities which have failed to make arrangements to pay off their debt, or reneged on debt relief plans. Eskom recently began legal proceedings to disconnect them.
Read Full Article on The Citizen
[paywall]
Its reason was that without strong action, the debt could triple within five years. This would pose a serious threat to the electricity sector’s stability. Eskom has previously threatened to disconnect major cities like Johannesburg, but the power utility’s current legal steps are far bigger in scale.
[/paywall]
All Zim News – Bringing you the latest news and updates.
