Municipal debt owed to Eskom surged from R28 billion in 2020 to R105 billion by September 2025 with just 14 municipalities responsible for 58 around R60,9 billion of the total debt. Their average payment level is 31, which is far below Eskoms overall collection rate of 94. While payments by non-municipal customers is 99,8, municipalities collectively achieve only 87,9.
To stabilise this crisis, National Treasury and Eskom launched the Municipal Debt Relief Programme on April 1, 2023, granting 71 municipalities access to conditional debt write-offs. But 61 of these municipalities have failed to meet the conditions and their collective arrears have increased by R27,57 billion since joining the programme.
Briefing the Portfolio Committee on Electricity and Energy during a joint Eskom/Department of Electricity and Energy session on the state of the municipal electricity distribution industry on November 21, Eskoms Acting Group Executive for Distribution, Agnes Mlambo , outlined the severity of the situation. She noted that municipal debt has become so entrenched that Eskom is unable to set a date for the unbundling of its Distribution division.
