FIDEL HADEBE | Non-payment of electricity contributes to power cuts

There was a huge outcry when National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) approved a massive tariff hike set to be effective from April. This hike, which translates into an increase of 33.7% over the next two years, comes at a time when consumers are battling high inflation and devastating power outages that are decimating any prospect of a good economic growth in the foreseeable future.

The way-above-inflation tariff hikes will most certainly squeeze households and industry even further with the likelihood of job cuts becoming a reality. Eskom is stewing in a R400bn debt pot and this pot is getting bigger as more loans will be required to fix the ongoing maintenance problems the power utility is dealing with.

But why did Eskom approach Nersa for a tariff hike? The simple answer is that Eskom is in debt and one way of generating revenue to service this debt is to get customers to pay more for using the service. It is a common business practice done in both the public and private sectors. The difference here is that in this case the customer is protected by Nersa to ensure that the power utility does not abuse the tariff increase and thus abuse the customer.

On the other side, Eskom is in this debt mess because of non-payment by electricity users and this has been happening for a number of years now. It is not fair to single out one place, township or suburb for this culture of non-payment, but Soweto for instance reportedly owes Eskom nearly R5bn as of September 2022. In 2020 alone, Eskom wrote off billions in unpaid electricity bills in Soweto. The likelihood is that this kind of “amnesty” has been extended to other areas in various parts of the country.

As I try to argue above, every business needs some kind of income to sustain itself and provide a service. A taxi owner requires income in the form of taxi fares for her taxi to continue operating and passengers pay every time they board a taxi. A hair salon owner wants clients who pay her to make sure that she remains in business, pay her rentals and assistants.

A butchery or shisanyama operator in a sprawling township wants his customers to pay for their nice chops, wors and chakalaka and their cold beer or cider. A mortuary operator needs paying customers to keep bodies of loved ones in his storage facilities that requires electricity. How is it then we have electricity users who just do not pay for the service despite using the same service to generate income?

In Alexandra township, City Power was on a campaign recently to disconnect illegal connections and demand outstanding payments form defaulting customers who include businesses. Among them was a petrol station owner who owes nearly R800,000. According to Sowetan newspaper, only 4% of Alexandra residents pay for their electricity.

There are also up-market residential estates where residents have developed a taste for free electricity and this was brought to public attention during the campaign in Tshwane last year when the municipality disconnected many of these posh estates. Similar disconnection campaigns took place in other upmarket residential areas in the north of Johannesburg and the likelihood is that other upmarket residential areas across the country have this problem.

Last year, the Gauteng provincial government passed a very progressive, albeit long-overdue, piece of legislation to unlock the potential of township economies and convert townships in the province into hubs for serious economic activity, beyond just people selling sweets and cigarettes on street corners. This initiative will, however, require energy for it to succeed.

Entrepreneurs will require reliable electricity to establish and successfully run businesses and we have seen how the current Eskom meltdown has decimated a number of businesses in the townships. What this points to is a need for us to realise that our fate as people is tied together. Like passengers in a big aircraft we have to be on the lookout for any threatening behaviour by anyone among us because if we do not do so the aircraft will crash with all of us on board and there will be no survivors.

It is well and good for us to blame the vgovernment” for all our electricity troubles, but we probably also have to start looking at our own behaviour as electricity consumers. If the situation carries on unabated there is a strong likelihood that more tariff hikes will be needed to keep Eskom going, whatever little of it is left

Hadebe is a behaviour-change communication strategist