By Charles Molele
Midvaal, one of the few Gauteng municipalities renowned for good governance, is planning to replace Eskom with a private electricity provider through a proposed 20-year public-private partnership.
According to Reginald Hubbard, Midvaal’s mayoral committee member for engineering services, outdated infrastructure and the critical role of electricity revenue in the municipality’s finances were key factors driving the decision.
“Electricity is our biggest source of income,” Hubbard told Rapport on Sunday.
“The municipality will support the successful bidder with grants we receive from the government.”
Interest in the project has come from companies in the United States and China.
According to Midvaal, the objective of turning to a private supplier is to maintain the existing net electricity revenue for the municipality while shifting capital funding risk, revenue risk and technology risk to the PPP company.
The municipality said that the PPP company will have to assume control, possession and use of its existing electricity distribution, and has to be a ring-fenced special purpose company whose sole purpose is implementing the deal.
It has to be licenced by Nersa and operate as a stand-alone system, not using shared assets or resources.
Midvaal is one of South Africa’s few financially sustainable municipalities, consistently recognized by Ratings Afrika.
Eskom, on the other hand, s strugglng with an R81.6 billion municipal debt, worsened by non-paying metros like Johannesburg, which recently faced a public dispute over its nearly R5 billion arrears.
Although Johannesburg committed to paying R1.4 billion by the end of November, its outdated infrastructure continues to cause widespread outages.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa is currently reviewing Eskom’s application for steep tariff increases, including a proposed 36.15% hike for 2026.
If approved, these increases could further burden South Africans already grappling with unreliable service.
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku DA Johannesburg caucus leader, told the media last week that “the only municipality in the whole of Gauteng whose account with Eskom is fully paid up, is the DA-governed Midvaal Municipality.”
“This is not a boast – it is a statement of what is possible with good governance. When a government truly cares about its people, and works hard to ensure that obligations are met, there are no threats of shut offs from Eskom.”
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