The Minister said they have given themselves 18 months or less to end load reduction, which he said affects more than 1.69 million customers across the country.
“I want to say to the country, we are going to end load reduction in the next 12 months. Once we get that cooperation, there are parts of the country where we’re confident we’ll get that cooperation. There are parts of the country where we know it’s going to be difficult.”
Ramokgopa stated that illegal connections are a major issue, adding that this load reduction effort will also focus on regularising electricity access for communities.
Speaking at Enlit Africa 2025, Eskom Group Chief Executive Dan Marokane outlined the power utility’s roadmap to stabilise South Africa’s energy system.
Outlining the plan, Ramokgopa said teams will move into areas, typically informal settlements, to roll out infrastructure, ensuring all residents use legally procured electricity.
“So part of the resistance I was referring to, we know that there are those who are profiting from this illegal connection. Some of them are delinquent employees of Eskom and municipalities that are connecting people illegally.
“And we know they are going to agitate those communities to resist our presence there because we are taking an illegally earned income that they’ve accumulated over time at the detriment of the users, the consumers in the area,” he said.
Ramokgopa also shared that they would be rolling out smart meters, ensuring that every community is on a smart meter platform.
One of the biggest, and valid, criticisms of energy provision in South Africa, he said, comes from residents who legally pay for electricity yet still find themselves subjected to load reduction.
“So with the rollout of smart meters, what that allows us to do is that if there are those who continue to be delinquent – by delinquency in this instance, I mean those that have the means, can afford it, and choose not to pay – we’re able to isolate that customer alone and not make the rest of the customers who are connected to the same transformer, collateral damage.
“So it gives us a technical agility for us to be able to roll out… to be able to isolate those who choose not to pay,” said the minister.
The minister added that while 2.1 million Eskom customers qualify for free basic electricity, only 485,000 receive it. With smart meters, he said, allocations can be delivered directly to households, ensuring the poor get the support intended for them.
He said this would be taking the money to the people, to the customer, where it belongs.
“For that to succeed, we need municipalities to work with us to generate a robust and credible indigent register. So there’s a framework against which we’re able to evaluate someone’s eligibility for free basic services. That’s not done by Eskom; it is done at the municipal level.
“So we need to work with municipalities. And in some instances, municipalities don’t have that capability. It’s something that we’re going to build over time.”
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