Ramokgopa’s free electricity proposal looks more like election politics
· Citizen
At first glance, the ANC’s plan to give free electricity to everybody who receives any form of government social grant – which is a staggering 26 million-plus people at last count – seems like just another example where the maths isn’t quite math-ing, in a sort of “eleventy” or “firepool” way.
And it’s not just any old electricity freebie the party is considering handing out – no less a figure than Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa believes that the current 50kWh a month allocation for indigent households can be increased sixfold, to 300kWh monthly.
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And, he says, it will be easy to do, too, for an organisation like Eskom, which just has to tap into the national social grants database to assemble the details of those who are eligible.
Energy analyst Chris Yelland said the plan shouldn’t be “trumpeted as a great achievement”, because the largesse proposed by the ANC would cost an extra R80 billion a year.
He added: “I can assure you Eskom doesn’t have R80 billion to fund this and so the only other way is to raise it from the taxpayer.”
It’s surprising that Ramokgopa could even float the idea, given that in his address last week on a proposed new electricity pricing policy, he promised to “eliminate” what he called “cross-subsidisation” in municipalities, where those in the more affluent areas are charged more than those in the poorer areas.
He spoke about those who pay their bills “religiously on a monthly basis” being “burdened by other delinquent payers”.
He added: “You are not allowed to punish those who are paying on account of those who are not paying.”
So, what’s the reason? It’s clear that this is a naked vote-catching strategy which either has not been thought through, or has, but the ANC doesn’t care about the results once the election is over.