Page 31 - Energize May 2021

VIEWS AND OPINION

Table 2: Households receiving FBE versus households funded for FBE.

However, even in Eskom areas of supply, access by poor households to basic services, including the 50 kWh of FBE, from their own revenue.
the FBE energy allowance is still controlled by municipalities. Instead, there is an annual allocation in the national budget to
“Local government is the gatekeeper of the free basic services each municipality in respect of these services, through the Local
programme (including FBE) and is the final arbiter of who can access Government Equitable Share, which is disbursed by National Treasury
these and who cannot. In terms of that policy, it is each municipality’s from the fiscus.
responsibility to identify households within its boundaries that qualify However, a 2013 study by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of
for indigent status, to keep a record of such households and to then South Africa (SERI) found that municipalities have generally put in
ensure that they receive the free basic services”, says Dr Ledger. place unworkable and bureaucratic processes which make access to
Municipalities are not required to fund the provision of free FBE by indigent households extremely difficult. The study suggests
that municipalities are not attempting to provide free basic
services to as many households as possible, but rather to
restrict access.
This failure to provide free basic services and FBE to
indigent household reflects negatively on the relevant
national government structures that set these policies, such
the departments of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE),
Public Enterprises (DPE) and Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
Furthermore, the failure to ensure that these funds,
calculated, budgeted, and disbursed for poverty relief,
actually reach the intended recipients reflects very poorly
on various bodies such as Parliament and its Standing
Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), National Treasury
and the Auditor General (AG), who are supposed to provide
oversight in respect of public expenditure.
Finally, the failure to deliver free basic services and FBE
to indigent household also reflects badly on government
agencies, state-owned enterprises, and industry
associations, such as the National Energy Regulator of South
Africa (Nersa), Eskom, the South African Local Government
Association (SALGA) and the Association of Municipal
Electricity Utilities of Southern Africa (AMEU), which are
responsible for implementing government policy.
“The evidence suggests a conclusion that supports
SERI’s 2013 finding: municipalities are deliberately making it
difficult for indigent households to access free basic services
because there is a financial incentive for them to do so, and
because there is no one to prevent them from doing so”,
says Dr Ledger.

Send your comments to rogerl@nowmedia.co.za

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