The vast majority of South Africans are facing difficult choices as Eskom and municipalities implement double-digit electricity price hikes each year.
The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity group says that Eskom’s double-digit price hikes—and the subsequent hikes from municipalities across the country—are leaving households broken, having to choose between having power or having food to eat.
But even on the national level, with Eskom’s fee hikes, the group said that rates far exceeded households’ ability to pay for them, and for most South Africans, electricity is unaffordable. “We are getting to a situation where your lower-to middle class – even your public servants – can no longer afford the cost of electricity in this country,” he said.
Ramokgopa said this week that the department and the South African Local Government Association are looking at ways to implement an electricity pricing plan in collaboration with Eskom and local municipalities. Households across the country are feeling the pressure of rising electricity prices, but the vast majority of the population is on the edge.
Making matters worse, for the majority of South Africans, electricity price hikes are leading to an impossible choice: food or power—when the reality is that you cannot live without either.
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