The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes Eskom’s rolling out of smart meters. This is a core part of the Eskom Social Compact initiated by COSATU and signed by government and social partners at Nedlac. 

If Eskom, the nation’s single most strategic economic asset, is to be sustainable and enabled to fulfill its developmental and legal mandates, then its gaping financial leakages have to be plugged as a matter of the highest priority.  Workers, society and the entire economy depend upon a functioning and well-resourced Eskom. 

A key cause of Eskom’s financial losses for many years has been the simple fact that a massive number of its customers are not prepaid, don’t pay, pay late or are illegally connected.  No company, including a state-owned enterprise, can survive on such losses. 

It is an injustice to the millions of struggling working-class families who diligently pay for their electricity each month, whilst others are allowed to consume without paying.  It is not an issue of poverty as many of the largest culprits are government institutions, major corporations and wealthy individuals. 

Eskom and municipalities must be given government and society’s full support to ensure Eskom can meet its progressive targets of rolling out 500 000 smart meters by March 2026, 1.7 million by 2027 and 6.2 million by 2029.  If successfully installed these would ensure that Eskom and municipalities receive the funds they require to maintain and expand their generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.  This is key to ensuring loadshedding and load reduction are a thing of the past.

Additional revenue flowing into Eskom and municipalities will enable the provision of free electricity and other basic services to indigent households to be increased.  Municipalities who have quietly stopped providing these free allocations to poor households must be held accountable.

It is critical that Eskom and municipal employees are given the necessary protection by the South African Police Service and Municipal Police when disconnecting illegal connections to the grid.  It is not acceptable that these workers are threatened with violence for doing their work and upholding the law.

Eskom needs to ensure that it has sufficient electricity meters in stock to meet its targets.  It must work with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to ensure that these are locally produced as per the Eskom Social Compact.  This will help create badly needed local jobs and value chains.

The Federation applauds the tireless efforts of Eskom and municipal workers who have done sterling work stabilising and rebuilding our electricity infrastructure and defeating loadshedding.  This is one of the major success stories of government led by the African National Congress.  Whilst we are inspired by these achievements, we cannot afford to be complacent and hence support for Eskom’s smart meter roll out is critical.

Issued by COSATU

Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)

Mobile: 082 785 0687

Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za