Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the government is working with provinces to help ailing municipalities pay their debt with Eskom.

Ramokgopa met with Free State MECs in Bloemfontein to ensure that municipalities are able to meet their financial obligations to Eskom.

“Collectively municipalities owe Eskom, now that the amount is bridging R100 billion collectively, that is what is owed by municipalities to Eskom. But also municipalities are owed by various categories like consumers collectively over R380 billion. This is an existential problem for both Eskom and municipalities so we need to work together with provinces and municipalities to resolve this challenge. Specifically for the Free State municipalities here who collectively owe Eskom R26 billion.”