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This week Wednesday, during a meeting of the Western Cape Ad Hoc Committee on the Energy Crisis, it became clear to what an extent Eskom’s tariff increases are affecting other areas of municipal service delivery.

Municipalities from across the West Coast updated the committee on their efforts to mitigate the effects of loadshedding, including the installation of generators to ensure wastewater treatment is not affected, as well as their effort to promote small-scale electricity generation and renewable energy projects.

The attending municipalities included West Coast District Municipality, Swartland Municipality, Matzikama Municipality, Cederberg Municipality, Bergrivier Municipality, Saldanha Bay Municipality.

One common and very concerning thread raised by municipal managers during the meeting was the discrepancy between the amount they are allowed to raise electricity prices by, and the amount Eskom is allowed to increase the tariffs they charge municipalities.

This gap has grown uncomfortably small, as smaller municipalities depend on their profits from electricity to finance other services, such as waste collection and maintenance of municipal infrastructure that communities depend on.

Some municipalities, such as Bergrivier, saw their profits from electricity sales fall by almost 50% over the past decade. In addition, Eskom has started charging municipalities for the spike in usage that occurs as they get their networks up and running after loadshedding. Previously this had been covered by Eskom, who are now charging municipalities for a problem of Eskom’s making.

As chair of this committee, I will be engaging with Eskom and NERSA to ensure that they are cognisant of the knock-on effects that their price hikes have on service delivery. The DA in the Western Cape will fight to make sure our municipalities are in position to get the basics right, as service delivery forms the basis of effective governance.

Issued by Christopher Fry, MPP - DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Energy