Eskom has been given approval to raise the price of electricity for the next three years by more than 25% a year. This means in three years time our communities will be paying double what they are currently paying! Worse, most basic goods and services like food and rail transport that require electricity use in their production and operation, will also rise in cost. For poor people this is going to be a major blow.

Eskom is increasing the price of electricity for ordinary consumers but the big companies like the mines and processors of minerals pay much less for their electricity. In fact where a consumer currently can pay an average 35 to 40 cents per kilowatt-hour, some of the largest industries pay as little as 5 to 11 cents per kWh.

It is this cheap electricity that has brought some of the worlds largest multinational corporations to South Africa to set up smelters that use massive amounts of electricity to refine metals. The economic and environmental cost of hosting these corporations cannot be justified by the few jobs they provide. In fact the National Union of Metal Workers’ (NUMSA) members working at the smelters have offered to sacrifice their jobs if the energy-sucking smelters can be shut down and there is a transition to green jobs.  

The commercialised media accepts and promotes the idea that South Africa has an electricity crisis and each individual should conserve electricity. They report that the expansion of Eskom is inevitable and desirable. In reality if we can shut down the energy hungry vampire businesses there will be more than enough electricity to meet our current and future needs. 

To continue to meet the cheap electricity needs of foreign corporations Eskom will build two huge new power stations which will burn tons of coal to generate electricity.  Forty new coal mines will be required to service these new power stations. The burning of coal has been recognised as creating great danger to the planet and human survival.  Coal burning produces  greenhouse gases that pollute the atmosphere. These gases act like insulation heating up the planet causing unpredictable and volatile weather patterns. Floods, droughts and increased sea levels devastate communities, especially those that live near the coast. 

However, it is no surprise that the ANC is pushing for the Eskom expansion – they stand to gain millions of rands through their investments in building the plants and mining the coal. This is part of the general pattern of corruption gripping the country. 

Wind, solar, and other sources of energy do not damage the environment and in the long term are cheaper than coal and nuclear energy.  The commercialised media and government do not consider these renewable energy sources because of the domination of the mining and minerals industry that wants to continue to use coal power. 

Our reliance on coal power will soon see the price of electricity rise even more. This is not because there is a scarcity but because government wants private companies to compete with Eskom in the generation and supply of electricity. Private companies will not make sufficient profit to attack their investment if the costs of electricity were to stay at their current levels. 

All municipalities will speed up the process of installing pre-paid meters in people’s houses so that when people cannot pay for their electricity the Council does not have to come and disconnect them, they will ‘disconnect themselves’. 

While government prepares to discipline the poor individually though electricity meters and the media stirs fears of ‘rolling blackouts’, South Africans are organising to resist the Eskom price hikes.  COSATU has given notice that they will call a general strike against the increases and over 250 civil society organisations have joined the Climate Justice Now coalition to resist Eskom’s coal based plans and demand environmentally sustainable alternatives. 

Alas the commercialised media have done little to tell the true story of our electricity ‘crisis’ – and even less to promote the many people and organisations campaigning for sustainable alternatives.