Media statement: KwaDukuza hosts Energy Indaba to address energy losses


KwaDukuza Mayor Siduduzo Gumede today, led the discussions of the Energy Indaba billed to address the heavy costs of electricity while generating minimal revenue.

 

The Indaba took stock of key threats coupled with meaningful inputs from stakeholders based on proven best practices and measures.

 

The municipality’s bulk electricity purchases account for over half of its entire operating budget. Illegal connections, billing errors, under-estimates, faulty meters, transformer losses associated with the high cost of living, population growth, informal settlements, unemployment and subsequent poverty were some of the factors raised as key contributors to the stagnant electricity revenue generation and huge losses.

Mayor Gumede was candid about the conditions of which the municipality is operating under. “Each and every year, our losses are in the millions and this is the single most pressing financial challenge plaguing our municipality. We are losing revenue that should be resurfacing our roads, cushioning our indigent households, and growing the economic promise to our people. We are, admittedly, not alone in this. Municipalities across the country collectively owe Eskom an excessive figure. Knowing that we are not alone offers us no comfort, if anything, it sharpens our resolve. Therefore, the Indaba has been deliberately structured to respond to this challenge as we want to assure that the incoming Council that will soon take up this baton, can carry forward with confidence, the responsibility of reducing the depleting revenue. This Council has shown, through 20 consecutive unqualified audit opinions and a financially stable position achieved despite floods, a pandemic, and genuine economic headwinds, that when we commit to something as a collective, we deliver”, said Gumede


Ends

Issued by the Office of the Mayor of KwaDukuza

Enquiries: Sphe Ngobese | 073 784 7822 | sphelelon@kwadukuza.gov.za

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