Speaking at the launch, the electricity minister said tariffs have risen 907% in twenty years and that municipal electricity revenue should be ring-fenced for maintenance rather than absorbed into general accounts.
Municipalities owe Eskom more than R110 billion, and 71 municipalities are on the National Treasury's debt relief programme. Those figures framed the electricity commitments at Sunday's launch.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told the launch that tariffs have risen 907% in twenty years, and that between 1.5 and 2 percentage points of the current tariff represents bad debt arising from illegal connections — meaning paying customers are covering the cost of those who are not connected legally.
The core proposal is ring-fencing. Electricity revenue collected by a municipality would be set aside for maintenance at an expected 8% of budget, rather than disappearing into general accounts. Municipalities have used electricity surcharges as general revenue for years, which is why distribution networks decayed while bills rose.
The Minister also proposed raising free basic electricity for households on municipal indigent registers from 50 kilowatt hours a month to between 200 and 300, to be funded inside the existing R21 billion annual free basic electricity budget through efficiency gains, solar and battery microgrids, and a cleaned-up register.
For Gauteng branches the ring-fencing proposal is the one to watch. It is testable: either a council can show 8% of its electricity revenue going to maintenance, or it cannot.
President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the 2026 local government manifesto at Riverside Park, Diepsloot, conceding that “too many municipalities are failing” and committing councillors to published priorities, signed performance agreements and removal for non-delivery.
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Provincial Communications Sub-committee
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