Times Of Swaziland: EEC GOES AHEAD WITH ELECTRICITY HIKE

EEC GOES AHEAD WITH ELECTRICITY HIKE
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Sabelo Majola on 25/03/2020 09:04:00


MBABANE – One would think government would also accommodate consumers in as
far as essential commodities are concerned at the height of the coronavirus
outbreak but not with electricity.
This is because the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) will go ahead with its
intended plan of hiking electricity tariffs, which will see consumers pay five
cents extra for each electricity unit as of April 1, 2020. This was confirmed by
the company’s Corporate Communications and Marketing Manager, Khaya Mavuso,
when quizzed on whether the company would consider suspending the electricity
hike set for next week.
“Nothing has changed from what we informed our customers about the electricity
hike. We will communicate if there are any developments on same,” he said. The
enquiry emanated from government’s move to cushion consumers in the prevailing
situation by announcing that the Central Bank of Eswatini had reduced the
liquidity requirement for the banks from 25 per cent to 20 per cent, giving the
banks more liquidity, which then means banks would have more cash to responsibly
lend to the public, as revealed by Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg. The
minister mentioned that during the first week of April 2020, fuel prices would
also go down. He also mentioned that taxpayers projecting losses would file loss
provisional returns and therefore no payment would be required from them.