The City of Tshwane has written off more than R4,3 billion of customers’ debt through its incentive and debt-relief scheme introduced in March this year.
The programme, which was approved by Council in February 2025, was part of the City’s commitment to provide financial relief to hard-pressed residents, businesses, deceased’s estates and indigent and child-headed households.
Of the R4,3 billion, R2,4 billion was written off for more than 85 000 indigent accounts. These are indigent customers and child-headed households that received a 100% debt write-off. However, these customers are still responsible for the payment of any consumption exceeding the allocated subsidy of 100 kWh of electricity and 12 kℓ of water.
More than R1,8 billion was written off from more than 31 000 inactive accounts. These are accounts with no linked service installations and are therefore dormant.
Residential and business customers also benefited from the R4,3 billion write-off after the City cancelled R66,4 million from the 984 applications it received for incentive and debt relief. The applicants owed the City a total amount of R147,4 million. During the processing period of these applications, the City managed to collect over R81 million as of 30 May 2025.
Meanwhile, a total of 20 056 amnesty applications from those who tampered with electricity meters were received as of 30 May 2025. So far, more than 17 000 of the applications have been captured and 10 741 have been handed over to the City of Tshwane Energy and Electricity Department for normalisation. This process will continue until all eligible meters are normalised.
The City once more urges consumers to continue paying their municipal accounts in full and on time at any approved pay point or third party. Account holders can also visit the e-Tshwane platform to access their statements or get their outstanding balance.
Those who are unable to settle their balance in full can request a payment arrangement by sending an email to creditcontrol@tshwane.gov.za.