Pre-paid vs conventional electricity

Tsakane Extension Eight resident Gloria Nkosi says electricity is the most costly expense in her household, and the free units she receives are simply not enough.

Nkosi does not understand why government changed from the previous electricity system.

She believes Eskom needs to do more in preventing illegal connections because this affects the costs of electricity.

“Sometimes when I need to buy electricity, the vendors are offline,” she also complains.

Eskom does not directly supply electricity to KwaThema, but directly to Tsakane and Duduza, and only 10% of their customers are still on conventional meters .

Eskom explains it is only certain businesses, schools, municipal offices and a few houses that are still on conventional meters in Duduza and Tsakane

According to Eskom, residents are currently receiving 100 free units per month per household, but believes the municipality will soon to reduce the rate to 50 free units in the future.

Eskom urges residents not to use appliances that consume a lot of energy, like heaters.

“Illegal connections are not dependent on the type of meters, this is a social problem that can only be addressed if communities also play a role in protecting the electrical infrastructure to ensure reliable supply of electricity.

“The company continuously runs the removal of illegal connections campaigns, but this does not help as these connections are re-instated the very same day of removal”, says Eskom.

Eskom says there are more than enough vendors in the townships from where pre-paid electricity can be bought.