Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has unveiled a new smart meter-led strategy to address the ongoing problem of load reduction, where the supply of electricity to poor communities is cut during peak periods to avoid infrastructure being damaged by overloading caused by illegal connections.

The power cuts are indiscriminate and, thus, also affect households in those areas that pay their electricity accounts.

Load reduction is currently affecting 1.6-million Eskom-connected households across 971 feeders, negatively affecting the quality of lives of some 8.5-million people. The figure for municipal households is still being compiled.

The strategy, which will be implemented over the coming 12 to 18 months, has not yet been fully costed with Eskom still to launch a formal tender for the supply of the smart meters.

However, Ramokgopa indicated during a briefing that he would be seeking Cabinet approval to use part of the R4-billion Integrated National Electrification Programme budget to fund the roll-out.

The initiative is also distinct from the National Treasury’s R2-billion programme to install 250 000 smart meters over a three-year horizon to 2027/28. This, under the so-called RT-29 transversal tender awarded to several service providers in 2023, namely African Metering Solutions, Cigicell, Conlog, Isandiso, Landis + Gyr, MTN and Vodacom.

SMART METER TENDER

Eskom acting group executive for distribution Agnes Mlambo did not entirely discount the prospect of piggybacking on the transversal tender. However, she indicated that Eskom was likely to launch its own commercial process given that it intended replacing 6.2-million meters with smart meters by 2029.

No precise timeframe was provided for the launch of the tender, but Ramokgopa insisted that Eskom already had smart meters in hand to launch the programme.

He expressed confidence that load reduction could be ended within 12 months, and again insisted that the cuts had nothing to do with Eskom’s ability to supply, noting that the areas affected could be supplied with 530 MW.

“We are generating substantially more than that … So, there is no relationship between our generation capacity and load reduction.”

Eskom had mapped all the areas being affected regularly by load reduction, with over 632 150 of the affected customers being in Gauteng, mostly in recognised informal settlements, followed by Limpopo (349 370 customers) and Mpumalanga (335 550 customers).

The programme to eliminate load reduction would be carried out in phases, with the first phase to prioritise 291 feeders across multiple provinces between now and the end of March, followed by two more phases with the aim of wrapping up the programme by the end of March 2027.

Ramokgopa acknowledged, however, that the pace of deployment would depend heavily on the success of community engagement processes.

These would rely heavily on municipal ward councillors, mayors and, in rural areas, on traditional leaders.

FREE BASIC ELECTRICITY

Ramokgopa indicated the intention was also to couple the roll-out to the creation of credible indigent registers to ensure that those who were eligible for free basic electricity (FBE) received the benefit after their smart meter was installed.

Currently, only 485 000 indigent households were receiving the 50 kWh FBE allowance, despite there being an estimated 2.1-million households potentially eligible for the allowance.

Once a smart meter was installed, Ramokgopa indicated that the 50 kWh could be loaded monthly without the money having to first flow to municipalities, many of which were currently redirecting the allowance elsewhere.

In addition, the size of the allowance could be increased under a new Electricity Pricing Policy that the Department of Electricity and Energy was in the process of updating.

Ramokgopa said that the policy, as well as the FBE subcomponent, would be subjected to public participation, probably early in 2026.

“We're going to open this for engagement and conversation and whatever ideas are there. I'm sure there are people with bright ideas that can come and say: “Look, this is how best we can do it,” the Minister said.

EE Business Intelligence MD Chris Yelland said smart meters would be a useful part of the process of tackling illegal connections, as they allowed for the disconnection of individual customers who run out of a prepaid credit or tampered with meters.

However, he stressed that a holistic approach was required, as smart meters did not solve illegal connections in front to the meters, or the bypassing of meters, or high-level and sophisticated data fraud resulting in diverted payments or wrongful credit loaded onto the meters.

“There is no single technology silver bullet,” Yelland stressed.