South Africa’s spiralling electricity prices are “untenable” as they are pricing the poor and middle class out of the market, minister of electricity and energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said on Monday.
Speaking during a media briefing on the country’s energy outlook, Ramokgopa said that while Eskom had halted load-shedding for more than 100 days, South Africa is facing a situation where the price of electricity is becoming unaffordable.
Eskom increased electricity tariffs between 12.72% and 12.74% in April.
Ramokgopa said the current climate of rising electricity prices was an “untenable situation” faced by many countries, including developed nations, across the world.
“As a function of the pricing structure of electricity, the poor are left out, and you are getting to a situation where the lower-middle class, such as your public servants, also cannot afford the price of electricity in this country,” he added.
He also criticised municipalities for their poor investment in distribution infrastructure that has led to households experiencing “load reduction” power cuts, despite Eskom’s improved generation capacity.
“We have seen that there is little to no investment that has been made in replenishing maintenance, the upkeep, the protection and the modernisation of this infrastructure,” Ramokgopa said.
“As a result of that, municipalities are under severe strain, and as a result of this strain, they then initiate what they call load reduction,” said Ramokgopa.
He said load reduction is not linked to Eskom's performance.
