KwaDukuza Municipality faces electricity loss crisis amid billing discrepancies

During a council meeting on Wednesday, KwaDukuza Municipality's councillors raised concerns regarding the entity’s massive electricity losses, which they attribute to billing discrepancies, exorbitant consumption rates, and rampant illegal connections.

Statistics revealed in a report for the period from July 1 to September 30 2025, indicated that the municipality's electricity losses amounted to R140 744 211.

This figure constitutes a loss of 29.19% of the total electricity purchased, which is contrary to what the National Energy Regulator of South Africa's (NERSA) loss threshold of between 6% to 12%.

ActionSA’s councillor, Halalisani Ndlovu, said that the data reflected a critical deviation from regulatory standards, one that threatens the municipality’s financial sustainability.

In response to the escalating situation, it was noted that in 2022, KwaDukuza appointed a service provider through the Vuthela Programme to conduct a comprehensive root cause analysis of its electricity losses.

This led to the formulation of a five-year Electricity Loss Reduction Plan (2022–2027), which, despite outlining 60 strategic interventions aimed at reducing losses to below the NERSA threshold by 2026/2027, has seen limited implementation and advancement.

Ndlovu lamented that amid the ongoing implementation window, only four initiatives were completed, while thirteen strategies were still in progress.

“This limited progress demonstrates a lack of urgency in executing the adopted plan and undermines the municipality’s ability to curb escalating losses,” he stated.

The implications of these findings were reinforced during a recent NERSA audit presented to the council in September 2025.

The audit found that KwaDukuza has not effectively operationalised its electricity loss reduction strategies, and warned that a continued trajectory of losses would lead to regulatory and financial repercussions.

Ndlovu emphasised that the inadequacy in implementing and executing reduction strategies intensified the financial strain on the municipality and adversely affected service delivery and revenue sustainability.

He urged the municipality’s leadership to take prompt and effective actions to implement the approved strategies that were crucial for compliance with NERSA's mandates and for safeguarding municipal finances.

“As ActionSA, we have called for consequence management against officials who have failed to execute the approved electricity loss reduction strategies or who have neglected to act decisively to stem these losses.

"Accountability is essential to restore confidence, ensure compliance, and uphold the principles of good governance and fiscal responsibility within the KwaDukuza Municipality,” he reiterated.

The outcry for immediate action was echoed by the Democratic Alliance's councillor and caucus leader, Privi Makhan, who pointed to a persistent energy loss crisis crippling the municipality, which was primarily due to mismanagement by the current administration.

Makhan criticised the municipality’s approach, and stated: “The response has been to hold endless strategic sessions and lekgotlas that serve only as tick-box exercises, yielding no tangible results.”

She added that a synergistic collaboration between the electricity, finance, and revenue protection departments was urgently needed to curb illegal connections and recover lost revenue, thereby stabilising the municipality’s finances.

The municipality’s spokesperson Sifiso Zulu didn’t respond to questions sent to him at the time of publication.

DAILY NEWS