Amendment to amount of free basic electricity under review, says Ramokgopa

Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said amending the amount of free basic electricity that poor and indigent households receive is under review.

This will form part of a new electricity pricing policy he’s pledged to release in the coming weeks.

Responding to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Ramokgopa said after remaining unchanged for two decades, it’s high time the 50 kilowatt per hour monthly allowance is raised to take into consideration modern living.

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“Twenty-three years later, that number is no longer relevant because the profile of consumption has changed – an average poor household now has a television, some of them have bought an electric kettle, they have refrigerators, so the consumption has changed. So, as part of our intervention, we are revising that number.”

With more than 1.6 million households in South Africa still not connected to the electricity grid, Ramokgopa said the new electricity policy will propose diversifying primary energy sources of electricity and to lower its cost.

But he’s warned that in determining a more appropriate free basic electricity allowance, it should not negatively impact the fiscus.

Ramokgopa, however, stopped short of giving an indication of the proposed increase.

“We have a number of what it should look like. We will announce it when the policy comes out without placing a burden on the national fiscus. So, it will increase.”