In an effort to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 national lockdown on indigent households, Eskom has launched a campaign aimed at raising awareness of the Free Basic Electricity (FBE) programme, targeted at giving limited free electricity to indigent households.
Qualifying households, in terms of the government’s policy of providing support to the unemployed, low-earning, the destitute and the elderly are encouraged to approach their municipalities to register as indigent in order to collect their allocated free basic electricity every month.
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Customers on municipalities’ indigent household registers have the right to a free minimum of 50 kiloWatt hours (kWh) of electricity every month, which can also be higher, depending on the municipality.
“Unfortunately a large number of indigent households don’t exercise their right, either because they are unaware of the free basic electricity or because they have not registered with the municipality,” said the utility’s Group Executive for Distribution Monde Bala.
Once registered with the municipality, the customer’s details are loaded on the Eskom system where they get credited with free electricity tokens.
As at end of March 2020, Eskom had 900 000 registered indigent customers, but only 700 000 people are collecting their FBE tokens. Eskom is working with municipalities to ensure that indigent households receive their free electricity.
“The partnership with municipalities will go a long way to help cushion the indigent households from the full impact of Covid-19 lockdown,” Bala said.
Customers who qualify for FBE but who are not currently collecting it, must approach their municipality and register to receive their free allocation.
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