eThekwini’s Energy Unit battles high vacancy rates amid growing informal settlements
Budget cuts, sprawling informal settlements, and staff vacancies are some of the problems facing the eThekwini Energy Management Unit as it grapples with revenue losses.
The electricity unit laid bare the challenges it faces in its monthly update to the municipality’s Trading Services Committee for March 2026.
The unit has 1,300 vacancies in the following areas:
- Finance and admin – 160,
- Customer services and retail – 106,
- High Voltage operations – 135,
- Medium/Low voltage operations – 578,
- Technical support – 314, and
- Executive – 6.
Funding is available for 502 of these vacant posts, while 798 remain unfunded. The municipality reported a loss of 1.11 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, amounting to R1.9 billion, in the 2024/25 financial year.
According to the report, the unit supplies more than 790,000 customers in an area covering nearly 2,000km square. This covers eThekwini and some adjacent areas such as KwaMakalanga, Mpumalanga, and Magabeni.
The main electricity supply to the metro region is purchased at 275,000 volts from Eskom. However, the municipality recorded an 11.98% loss at the end of March 2026.
The municipality has also completed its public consultations on its Draft Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and proposed R74.7 billion budget for the 2026/27 financial year. This included discussions over tariff increases for water and electricity.
According to the municipality, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) approved an 8.76% price increase in tariffs to direct Eskom customers and 9.01% for municipalities. The municipality has applied for a 10.5% increase for the 2026/27 financial year, effective from July 1, 2026.
Philani Shange, director of Energy Management, outlined in the report that the electrification backlog had a declining trend until 2017 and 2018. The trend, he stated, has since progressed to an increasing trend due to the dwelling count in eThekwini increasing at a rapid pace of approximately 3.3% per annum, based on the stats information provided from 2019 to 2023.
“The largest factors contributing to the backlog increasing are the dwelling count increasing at a pace faster than service delivery can be provided, informal dwellings growing faster in areas that cannot be provided with services due to land ownership issues, environmental issues, and safety risks,” he said.
“Limited budget availability restricts the number of service connections that can be provided, and material availability challenges due to supply chain management delays,” Shange added.
The report stated that a large portion of dwellings that contribute towards the backlog are from the informal sector, which requires Human Settlements and other departmental intervention prior to Electricity being able to provide services, as these settlements are found to be in areas that cannot be safely serviced.
The report outlined that there are approximately 320,000 informal dwellings across eThekwini. Shange said that the municipality has 64 informal settlements, with a household count of approximately 18,200 dwellings that have been identified, where more than 50% of the settlement is affected by factors that do not allow for services to be provided.
According to the report, the total dwellings without electricity at the end of the 2022/23 financial year were 449,693. The current backlog is 341,309 dwellings.
“Illegal connections, cable theft, vandalism of infrastructure, and ageing infrastructure with limited budget for replacement projects are also challenges, and this results in increased maintenance costs,” Shange stated.
