MBABANE – Across Eswatini, the first school period begins around 7:30am.
Inside one of the schools around the Hhohho Region, squints at a chalkboard in a classroom without overhead lights, the school switched them off to save power.
In the Lubombo region, a boarding mistress watches the geyser cool, rationing hot water for 40 girls. In Manzini, a head teacher stares at a spreadsheet, calculating how many textbooks must go unbought to keep the borehole pumping. It must be said that April 1, 2026, is about a month away. On this day, according to an article that was published on Wednesday by the Times of Eswatini, new electricity tariffs will come into effect.
The Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA) has approved a 13.61 per cent increase for the 2025/26 financial year. This means less money for the pockets because electricity will cost more. And when it arrives, nearly 900 schools, servicing almost 300 pupils, will wake to a new reality. For E100, this currently buys about 38 units of electricity, but in the next financial year, the same amount will purchase 34 units.
This does not look like a big difference but for schools, some that pay E30 000 per month, this will increase to E34 000, while in 12 months, this translates to an increase of E48 000 for the year. This, year, while schools’ incomes have remained the same, learning institution will have to fork out an additional E48 000.
According to head teachers, this is the type of math they are not interested in because it will now be difficult to balance their books.
The approval was confirmed in a statement this week by the country’s energy regulator. ESERA cited ‘sustained operational cost pressures’ and ‘the need to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the electricity supply industry’.
The regulator noted that the approved increase is below EEC’s application and was arrived at after public consultations. The company had sought 20.67 per cent increment, but ESERA approved 13.61 per cent.
For schools, this is not relief as it still translates to an increment, resulting in having to pay thousands of Emalangeni extra. “Whether it is 13 per cent or 20 per cent, we still cannot afford it,” said one head teacher from the Shiselweni region, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We are already cutting. There is nothing left to cut.”
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… tariff hike is only half the story
MBABANE – Across the country, schools are classified under law as businesses.
This classification, according to head teachers, carries a punitive consequence: a fixed monthly charge of about E500 per electricity meter for his school. For a small primary school with one meter, that is E500 gone before a single light switch is flipped. For larger institutions with multiple buildings, hostels and boreholes, the meters multiply — and so does the bleed.
Ndzingeni High School is said to have five meters. “Before we use any electricity at all, we will pay E2 500,” Dlamini said. “Every month. That money is gone. It never bought us a single unit.”
Interviews with head teachers across four regions reveal that multi-meter campuses are common. Particularly among schools that have expanded incrementally over decades — a new classroom block here, a borehole there, a boarding hostel added later. Each addition brought a new meter. Each meter brought a new E500 charge.
*Full article available on Pressreader*
Minister for Education and Training Owen Nxumalo. (Pics: Joseph Zulu)