Eskom reported a R30.3-billion profit for the year to 31 March, but a larger sum than that never reached the income statement at all.
Outgoing group chief financial officer Calib Cassim set out the arithmetic at Monday’s results presentation. Eskom, he said, lost 13.1TWh of electricity to theft during the year – power that was generated, transmitted and consumed, but never billed.
At an average selling price of about R2.20/kWh, Cassim put that at roughly R29-billion of revenue that should have been in the top line and was not.
The second gap is accounting related. Because Eskom can only recognise revenue from defaulting municipalities when the cash actually arrives, R15.8-billion that it invoiced during the year does not appear in its revenue at all. The financial statements bear that out: R30-billion invoiced to metropolitan and municipal customers failed the collectability test, against R14.2-billion recognised on a cash basis.
“That is why we have to solve the municipal debt to collect the current account,” Cassim said. “It will help with the liquidity, but more importantly, it will contribute to your bottom line and your profitability.”
Put together, roughly R45-billion of potential revenue sits outside a business that made R30.3-billion. Cassim’s point was that Eskom does not need all of it.
Solving municipal debt
“If we can secure and improve 50% of that going forward, that gives you a starting point of R20-billion/annum that you never had before,” he said. “But we can’t do it alone. We need government, we need law enforcement to make this happen.”
Eskom intends to return to the capital markets in 2028 and wants to do so on its own credit rather than government guarantees. Cassim said the utility does not want further equity injections from the state, which has committed R230-billion in debt relief and provided roughly R480-billion in support over the past decade. His answer when asked in parliament whether more will be needed, he said, is that solving municipal debt removes the question.
Municipal arrear debt reached R111.6-billion at year-end, up R17-billion in 12 months. About R12-billion of that is owed by the metros.
Cassim said that if the problem is not addressed, the figure reaches R358-billion by 2031 – a number that would, in his words, nullify the benefit of the R230-billion debt relief programme entirely. “Eskom cannot be a bank to municipalities.”
On theft, Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said the utility had 710 active forensic cases at the end of March, with 505 arrests, 13 convictions, 15 employees dismissed following forensic referrals, 101 suppliers restricted and 299 criminal matters reported to police. A centre was opened in March to run intelligence-led investigations.
“These numbers represent progress, but activity is not final accountability,” he said. “Arrests are not convictions, and active cases are not completed investigations.”
He also disclosed that probity checks and proactive assurance on high-value tenders, discontinued in October 2022, have been reinstated. Their absence, he said, “created some vulnerabilities” in Eskom’s internal controls.
Cassim, who leaves after 24 years at Eskom and nine as chief financial officer, has committed the utility to a clean audit by March 2027 – a deadline that will fall to his successor. Deloitte qualified this year’s accounts on the completeness of irregular expenditure, though the five reportable irregularities outstanding a year ago are down to one, covering environmental and water compliance. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
