Eskom ‘triple tax’ hits South Africa
South Africans are being forced to hand money over to Eskom multiple times, with taxpayer-funded bailouts, higher tariffs and new, unavoidable fixed fees pushing households to their limits.
This was one of the major criticisms levelled against the national power company and the Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill, which the National Assembly debated on Tuesday (22 July).
According to Rise Mzansi’s caucus whip, Makashule Gana, South African businesses, households, and citizens have been carrying Eskom’s tax burden for decades but have little to show for it.
The country still has to suffer through blackouts, higher prices and new, inescapable and unaffordable fees.
He said that South Africans were being hit with load reduction; communities are turning violent in protest of higher fees; and prepaid customers are spending what little they have for power, only to get less out of it because of additional fees.
“South Africans are paying twice – first through taxes to fund Eskom, and again through soaring electricity prices that are now becoming unaffordable for poor, middle-class and working-class families,” he said.
The Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill is the latest piece of legislation that allows a so-called “debt transfer” between Eskom and the state, with the latter taking over R250 million worth of the utility’s debt.
The original Eskom Debt Relief Act of 2023 allocated R254 billion in debt relief, including a R70 billion debt takeover in 2025/26.
The amendment bill, introduced with the 2025 Budget, replaces the R70 billion debt takeover with two direct advances to Eskom totalling R50 billion.
This has been presented as a “saving” of R20 billion for the fiscus, but not everyone sees it that way, given the rising cost of electricity.
“We are told that R20 billion will be taken off Eskom’s original debt relief plan. On paper, that sounds like progress,” Gana said.
“But let us be honest with the people: Year after year, Eskom has received bailouts, guarantees, and relief. And what do the people get in return? Less electricity, and higher prices.”
For the MYPD6 period, Eskom applied for massive tariff hikes, exceeding 36% in 2025. Energy regulator Nersa cut this down significantly, granting ‘only’ a 12.7% increase from 1 April.
Municipalities followed with their own tariff hikes, generally in line with this amount from 1 July.
Gana argued this amounts to at least a double payment to Eskom, because taxes have bailed the company out, and the utility is now sucking in even more through the hikes.
The third tax
A third ‘tax’ not directly addressed by the MP, but present nevertheless, is the imposition of new fixed fees and charges on housesholds, whether the use electricity or not.
Gana said that “every South African who opens their prepaid meter (and) punches in a voucher, gets fewer and fewer units with every passing month”. But this is not limited to prepaid users.
From April 2025, Eskom restructured its tariffs to include a host of new fixed service, network and capacity charges that now apply to regular bills.
The fixed charges apply whether electricity is consumed or not, with Eskom arguing that more goes into supplying electricity and ensuring its availability than just what users consume.
Eskom customers have reported seeing their elecricity bills shoot up between 30% and 80% a month because of these charges—far above the 12.7% increase granted by Nersa.
Municipalities have taken the prepaid approach, where councils are looking for easy access to additional funds as budgets come under pressure.
For example, the Cities of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni have applied new fixed capacity charges to prepaid households regardless of their electricity usage.
Gana said that these charges are pushing communities to their limit.
“Just yesterday, the people of Thembisa were forced to shut down their community. Not because they want to cause chaos, but because they simply cannot take it anymore. And they are not alone,” he said.
The MP was referring to violent protests that erupted in the City of Ekurhuleni on Monday (21 July), where residents pushed back against higher electricity prices and a fixed R126 per month tariff.
Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza announced that the fee would be temporarily suspended for low-income users, but would continue for businesses and high-consumption users in the city.
“This is not sustainable. We must stop punishing the poor for the failures of the powerful,” Gana said.
“We must start talking seriously about electricity price relief, not for Eskom, but for the people of South Africa.”
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