ETHEKWINI NEWSFLASH
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
18 DECEMBER 2025

TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF THE 80/20 PREPAID ELECTRICITY DEBT RELIEF PROGRAMME

The City would like to inform residents that the 80/20 prepaid electricity debt relief programme has been suspended with immediate effect.

This decision follows a review conducted earlier this month by the City’s Energy Management Directorate together with the Finance Department. The review assessed the programme’s performance since it was reintroduced and focused on:

· How effectively the programme assisted residents to manage electricity debt
· Its impact on electricity losses and revenue collection
· Challenges related to the systems and processes used to manage prepaid electricity meters.

The 80/20 and 50/50 electricity debt relief programmes were reintroduced in May 2022 to help residents repay outstanding electricity debt. Under these programmes, a portion of each prepaid electricity purchase was allocated towards reducing debt. However, ongoing system-related challenges have made it difficult to continue operating the programme in its current form.
At present, the electricity vending system is not fully integrated with the municipal billing system.

This lack of integration has resulted in an inefficient and fragmented debt-collection process, making it difficult to accurately record payments, reconcile customer balances, and monitor the overall effectiveness of the programme.

In addition, the absence of clear debt-value thresholds has limited the City’s ability to recover large outstanding debts timeously. This is particularly evident in cases where customers with high arrears make very small electricity purchases, resulting in minimal debt recovery.

The municipality notes that, despite its intention to provide relief, the 80/20 mechanism did not deliver the full benefits originally intended. System limitations and structural design challenges prevented customers from fully benefiting from the programme as envisaged when it was relaunched.

Following the review, it was agreed that the programme must be integrated with the new systems to operate effectively. As a result, the City has decided to temporarily suspend the programme with immediate effect. This means that no new 80/20 applications will be accepted until further notice.

Applications that were pending at the time of suspension will be placed on hold. Any credit allocated for the acquisition of prepaid meters will be used to reduce outstanding electricity debt. The suspension period will also allow the City time to properly integrate systems across relevant departments.

It is important to note that 20% of the amount paid by customers will continue to be manually adjusted and reflected on their municipal accounts. The municipality is working on a process that will ringfence the bulk of the outstanding debt making sure that it does not incur further interest.

The municipality remains committed to strengthening its long-term debt recovery strategy. The intention is to reintroduce improved debt-relief mechanisms once system integration has been completed.

Ends

Issued by eThekwini Municipality’s Marketing & Communications Directorate