Municipal debt to Eskom is fast approaching the R30bn mark, after it shot up by more than R8bn in the last 12 months.
"Despite certain concessions that Eskom has made to municipalities, the situation is not improving. There are measures that Eskom has put together to try and reduce the burden on municipalities, including placing the debt in a suspense account," said Tlhakudi.
"The concessions cover the interest rate that have been reduced to lessen the burden on municipalities, there's extended payment terms that have been agreed and also payments are also been allocated to capital to try and reduce the burden. Unfortunately these measures are not having the desired effects."
Tlhakudi reported to parliament that Covid-19 had also negatively impacted Eskom's ability to generate revenue as the national lockdown resulted in lower energy demand. This has allowed Eskom to not implement load-shedding. But ANC MP Dipuo Peters, who is also a former energy minister, said it was disappointing that Eskom was still not reporting significant progress in turning around its finances, despite the level of support it was getting from the government.
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