More free electricity, but who will pay for it?

As the government considers increasing the amount of Free Basic Electricity (FBE) to give to indigent households, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) warns that simply increasing the allocation could deepen pressure on already struggling municipalities and paying electricity customers, particularly if government fails to fix the system that determines who qualifies and how the benefit is funded.

Policy needs to be worked on Kleynhans believes the government still has to work on policy, not simply increase the amount of free units to indigent households.” Challenge with free electricity policy The government has previously been criticised for how it has implemented the policy, with some saying that a significant number of households are not benefiting from FBE.