Cape Town – Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa informed Parliament that only two million out of the intended 10 million poor South Africans currently receive free basic electricity due to operational challenges at the municipal level.
Ramokgopa acknowledged ongoing efforts to review the electricity pricing policy and emphasised the need to involve municipalities more closely in this process.
“We know that National Treasury is providing support to 10 million houses in this country to receive free basic electricity but only two million are receiving it as a result of significant weaknesses at a municipal level. So, we are working with SALGA [South African Local Government Association] to address that,” EWN quoted the minister as saying.
Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says only two million poor South Africans receive free basic electricity instead of 10 million. pic.twitter.com/G52cBLcrVd
— AfricanTimes2005 (@African_TimesSA) September 19, 2024
Ramokgopa’s comments came during a session addressing economic issues, where he discussed plans to address energy poverty as part of a broader social security initiative.
In August, Ramokgopa emphasised the need to resolve these issues to protect the poor and improve the efficiency of electricity distribution.
“We also know that now there are fatal shortcomings with regards to free basic electricity that we have observed. At least we know that there are about 10 million households in this country that qualify for free basic electricity but what we know is that only 2 million are receiving this free basic electricity as a result of challenges on the municipal side and that has to do largely with the rate at which they are registering… so that they can benefit from this free basic electricity.
Only 2 million households in the country receive free basic electricity. This is out of the 10 million homes that qualify for it. Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, blames this on dysfunctional municipalities. #DStv403 #eNCA pic.twitter.com/LmjrM3ksjC
— eNCA (@eNCA) August 12, 2024
“And yet municipalities are receiving this grant. So I think it’s important that we resolve this question so we are able to protect the poor,” he said at the time.
The National Assembly is set to debate a proposed 36% tariff increase by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), with widespread opposition expected from various political parties.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
