By Myles Illidge
Electricity and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says municipalities with a combined debt of over R100 billion with Eskom have made little progress in reducing the amounts they owe.
According to the minister, the ongoing problem will result in the total collapse of the South African electricity complex.
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, 24 June 2025, the minister described Eskom’s challenge of supplying electricity but being unable to collect revenue as an “existential problem”.
“They are spending money they must collect from the bulk consumer, and where they are reticulating. They are finding it difficult to collect, so they’re unable to reinvest back into their asset base,” he said.
“It’s going to result in, if not managed, a total collapse of the electricity complex in the country.”
Municipal debt owed to Eskom had grown to R109 billion by February 2025, and despite the introduction of a debt relief programme in 2023, it continues to worsen.
The debt relief programme allowed municipalities to write off part of their debt, provided they committed to strict conditions to ensure sustainability and accountability.
To qualify for the programme, municipalities had to apply and meet specific conditions for approval.
The conditions for debt relief from the National Treasury included:
They must stay on track with their current account payments.
They must roll out smart meters to improve the efficiency of their electricity distribution networks.
They must remove illegal connections on their networks.
However, things didn’t start well, with Ramokgopa revealing in August 2023 that just 11 of 28 approved municipalities had honoured their commitments.
He added that seven had only partially honoured the agreement.
In July 2024, the minister revealed that municipal debt had grown to R78 billion and warned that, if left unaddressed, the trend would result in municipal debt rising to R3.1 trillion by 2050.
“It’s important that we have engagement with municipalities. They owe Eskom over R78 billion,” Ramokgopa stated.
“If the current trend line continues, the collections and payments we are seeing now, if you extrapolate it to 2050, it’s about R3.1 trillion. This is huge.”
The municipal debt owed to Eskom makes it difficult for the utility to invest in its infrastructure, forcing it to apply for higher annual electricity price increases.
