The amount of unpaid dues that municipalities owe Eskom has risen to more than R63.2-billion and is increasing exponentially, risking even longer power cuts around the country, the electricity minister said on Sunday.

Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the figure had risen by R4.7-billion since the start of this year. Municipalities in South Africa don’t have the funds, forcing them to cut back on maintenance and replacement of assets such as transformers and substations, leading to communities going without power for weeks.

Eskom supplies power to 238 municipalities with the top 20 of them accounting for 77%, or R48.9-billion, of the total overdue debt, Ramokgopa said.

“The rate at which we are experiencing this, even the annual growth of municipal debt is going to increase and increase exponentially,” he said.

This was adding to Eskom’s debt and undermining its ability to invest the money in generation, transmission and also distribution which was adding to long hours of power cuts, he said.

Eskom is saddled with a massive debt burden forcing it to tread a thin line between allocating capital for regular maintenance and capital expenditure of its fleet of ageing, coal-fired power plants, often at the cost of daily power cuts.

Its transmission capacity is also limited, allowing a slow ramp up of alternative sources of power such as solar and wind energy, with the government estimating that up to R210-billion is needed to upgrade it.