R100 billion debt: only 10 municipalities honouring their accounts

There appears to be no solution in sight as municipalities’ debt to Eskom continues to soar with each financial year.

Eskom Group chief executive Dan Marokane briefed the parliamentary portfolio committee on electricity and energy on Friday on the power utility’s affairs.

The briefing came after Eskom implemented load shedding from Thursday afternoon to Friday midnight.

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“Despite significant progress in our generation recovery efforts, higher than expected electricity demand, the loss of generation units and extensive planned maintenance have placed strain on the system,” Eskom said on Thursday.

Marokane told the committee that despite these hiccups, Eskom is in a much better place than it was two years ago.

In 2023, South Africans experienced 280 days of load shedding, increasing to 329 days in 2024. In the past financial year ending March 2025, Eskom recorded just 13 days of load shedding.

Eskom met the electricity demand 96% of the time in the past financial year.

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The power utility also recorded a R16.93 billion year-on-year reduction in diesel spend, a 45% reduction in diesel costs compared to the previous financial year.

“This means that Eskom, through improving its generation performance, was able to provide electricity to South Africa without an overreliance on diesel. This is a clear sign of improved operational performance,” Marokane said.

‘Plan yielding results’

Marokane further slammed narratives that seem to undermine Eskom’s work. He said the real numbers reflected an improvement in the power utility’s overall functioning despite comments from critics.

“It’s important that we state this very explicitly because very often, there are narratives that are being driven that seek to undermine the progress that the 41 000 employees of Eskom are making and those who are working in collaboration with us,” Marokane said .

“When we do so, we undermine the confidence of the work that we do and we undermine ourselves as a country. And yet, all this is done when the data is publicly available. This is the data and there is no other story to tell from this data as it is.”

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Marokane said that although there was progress, Eskom was not out of the woods yet concerning load shedding.

“The fact remains that the implementation of the generation recovery plan is yielding results. We are not yet out of the woods. We are working hard to make some corrections and adaptations to our plans to ensure we get to a place where load shedding is behind us.”

Eskom debt

However, despite progress, Eskom has struggled to collect payments from municipalities. While some municipalities have acknowledged their debt to Eskom, others have still not honoured payment agreements.

In March 2023, the National Treasury launched the Eskom municipal debt relief programme which aims to provide financial relief to municipalities struggling to pay their debts.

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At the time, 71 municipalities were targeted for the programme.

However, by March 2024, only 23 municipalities were honouring their accounts. By November 2024, only 10 municipalities were honouring current accounts.

The Eskom debt has now soared to R100 billion, with the utility scrambling for solutions to the challenge.