Important information for people in Joburg who want free electricity

Johannesburg’s electricity utility City Power is launching a wide-scale free basic electricity (FBE) registration drive for poor households.

The initiative will run from 17 June to 31 July 2025 and aims to register 130,000 indigent customers. In 2025, these are households in Johannesburg earning less than R7,503 a month.

City Power said the beneficiaries are likely to include senior citizens, unemployed persons, women and children, child-headed households, and persons with disabilities.

“Access to electricity is not a luxury, but a key feature required to support social and economic upliftment,” the utility said.

“Once registered, eligible residents will receive 50kWh of electricity per month at no cost, allowing them to power essential household needs such as lighting, cooking, and heating.”

In addition to promoting inclusive access to electricity, the initiative aims to address electricity theft and equipment damage caused by overloading of the network through illegal connections and tampering.

“This project is also a critical part of City Power’s wider efforts to bring more than 140,000 non-vending customers back onto the culture of paying for services,” the utility said.

“Many of these customers are consuming electricity without paying, resulting in massive revenue losses for the utility and the increasing destruction of our infrastructure.”

City Power said the FBE programme was designed to “cushion” the most vulnerable and ensure access to electricity while also helping to clean up the billing and compliance environment.

“Beneficiaries of this programme will not only receive free basic electricity but will also be exempted from paying R200 monthly surcharge.”

“In addition, if your meter has been damaged, bypassed or tampered with, it will be replaced free of charge, and for now, no penalties will be imposed.”

Registered beneficiaries will also be considered for other City of Johannesburg rebates, including reductions in property taxes, water, and refuse removal.

Warning to illegal users

City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava appealed to residents to cooperate to ensure no households get unfairly disconnected and no customer abused the system to the detriment of others.

Mashava issued a stern warning to residents consuming electricity illegally. “There is now no excuse. If you qualify, register and receive free basic electricity,” Mashava said.

“If you can afford to pay and refuse, we will begin a mass disconnection initiative where we will be removing our meters and other equipment.”

Aside from earning less than R7,503.10 per month, applicants must be South African citizens or permanent residents and be the legal occupants of the property in question.

“Supporting documentation such as a valid ID, proof of residence, COJ rates and Taxes Account, and income verification (such as a Sassa card or affidavit) will be required at registration,” City Power said.

City Power will roll out pop-up registration stations at malls, taxi ranks, churches, schools, and Sassa pay points to sign up customers, as well as go door-to-door campaigns and host imbizos.

Millions of qualifying households not getting free power

Energy expert Chris Yelland previously criticised municipalities for failing to provide the vast majority of 10 million indigent households across the country with FBE.

“The money is being transferred to municipalities for this purpose. However, 80% of the indigent households are not getting the free electricity,” he said.

“Municipalities misappropriate the money for free basic electricity for poor households in the full view of the National Treasury and government.”

While municipalities may be failing to identify indigent customers, there is another angle to the issue to consider.

Some households with illegal connections may prefer to continue flying under the radar than come forward and register for FBE, as the 50kWh allocation is low by modern electricity demands.

The allocation was determined more than two decades ago and various prominent people and organisations have called for it to be increased — including Eskom board chairman Mteto Nyati.

“It needs to be revised to take care of the inflation,” he said. “This needs to be something that gets negotiated, and we will come up with a number.”

A Public Affairs Research Institute analysis from 2023 proposed increasing the allocation to 350kWh, seven times its current level.