Debt owed to Eskom by municipalities grows to R 90 billion

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has confirmed that debt owed to Eskom by municipalities nationally has grown to R90 billion.

He was speaking at a media briefing on the City of Johannesburg’s R 6 billion debt.

Ramokgopa says the debt issue needs to be addressed as this threatens the country’s economy as well as the tariff increase for 2025/26.

In August, the power utility applied for a 36% tariff increase from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), which has been rejected.

Ramokgopa says debt owed to Eskom impacts electricity tariffs.

He says, “It also has got tariff implications, if you look at the tariff submission by Eskom to Nersa and one of the matrices there that gets to be accounted for is at debt levels. So essentially debt has got impact on the tariff.”