Eskom’s request for a 32% tariff hike is a symptom of its failure to deliver reliable, affordable and physically accessible electricity, caused by its unsustainable financing model.
Eskom’s management blames years of skimping on maintenance for the poor performance of its power plants. File photo.In recent years, South Africans had to endure gruelling price hikes for life’s basic necessities such as food, fuel, electricity and water. These financial burdens are placed on citizens in a society where unemployment and poverty flourish while inequality booms.
Eskom is often characterised as a nationalised public utility and its deterioration is seen to be a consequence of gross mismanagement by the government, purported to be a given, as a result of Eskom’s monopoly over the energy sector. This creates an impossible task to provide electricity as a universal public good, while at the same time needing to make Eskom profitable by selling electricity to people, who for the most part are unable to afford it. Municipalities are also adding to the problem through mismanagement and the devouring of funds meant to provide free basic electricity.
Municipalities’ failure to register indigent households results in two disastrous outcomes: poverty deepening by continued lack of electricity, and Eskom losing billions of rand in revenue because the utility is meant to receive revenue from municipalities for the free units provided.
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