{"id":840346,"date":"2025-10-20T09:26:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T07:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=840346"},"modified":"2025-10-20T09:39:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T07:39:20","slug":"south-africans-say-goodbye-to-eskom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/840346\/south-africans-say-goodbye-to-eskom\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans say goodbye to Eskom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eskom’s steep electricity price increases have gutted demand for its product, and promises of single-digit increases going forward come far too late to stop it from sinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to a new demand analysis from independent energy analyst Pieter Jordaan, showing how the power utility’s price increases and tariff reforms have steered customers away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordaan looked at South Africa’s electricity expense-to-income ratio, often referred to as energy burden<\/strong> to track the percentage of a household’s income on electricity costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A household is considered to have a high energy burden if this ratio exceeds 6% of their income, and severe if it exceeds 10% of their income,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Beyond a 6% burden, households start to limit their electricity consumption to match their income growth, or look for cheaper substitutes such as wood, paraffin, gas or solar power.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He assessed the energy burden between 1996 and 2025 using two profiles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n