By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Manufacturing companies based in the densely populated Matsapha Industrial Site will now pay over R200million per-month to the Eswatini Electricity Company(EEC) subsequent to the over fourteen per-cent(14%) imposed by the Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority(ESERA), acting on the instructions of King Mswati’s brother Natural Resources Minister Prince Lonkhokhela.

It has been disclosed through information obtained by this publication that, a majority of the over one hundred(100) giant manufacturing companies in Matsapha pay around R1.8million monthly electricity bill including Value Added Tax(VAT).

But a senior Manager of one of the giant companies told this Swaziland News on Wednesday that, with the over 14% increase, the bill will now reach around R2million per-month thus increasing the costs of production or doing business in eSwatini.

“We are paying R1.8million per-month for electricity because we using machinery that consumes too much power, so with the over 14% increase, the bill will now reach R2million including VAT”, said the senior Manager whose name cannot revealed for ethical reasons.

It was previously reported by this Swaziland News that, the over 14% increase will result to the Electricity Company generating over R1billion extra turnover from the pockets of the citizens, eSwatini has about 70% of the population living below the poverty line.

But apart from that,this publication later gathered that indeed, giant manufacturing companies based in Matsapha pay between eight hundred thousand Rands(R800,000.00) and R1.8million per-month for electricity and with the over 100 companies, EEC, the Government and by extension, the royal family will collect over R200million per-month from the corporate companies.

Khaya Mavuso,the Spokesperson of the Eswatini Electricity Company(EEC) declined to comment about the matter.

Reached for comments earlier on Tuesday afternoon, Mduduzi Gina,the Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland(TUCOSWA) described the increase in electricity tariffs as exorbitantly high and “out of touch with the realities of the consumers which he said by and large, are the workers and their families”.

The TUCOSWA Secretary General further mentioned that, any double digit increase “cannot be acceptable in the face of the inflation figures of 2024 and the projected inflation” for 2025 being 4.17 and 5.25 % ,respectively. 

“This increase must be rejected by the population.State Owned Enterprises like EEC must recall that they are government owned organizations and they are not in a business of making profits.ECC should conduct its business with the mindset of being en-abler of economic development. With a high cost of electricity the country cannot grow its productivity as production costs increases. The workers are always at the receiving end of these decisions as the employers would use same to justify non increase of worker wages. It is not clear why for this long the country has depended largely on emported power as opposed to the utilization of the vast coal at its disposal.The country has a quality coal that can be exchanged profitable with the neighbours for the type of coal needed for power generation. We call upon EEC to cause for the effect of reasonable electricity tariffs within the inflation rate bracket. The Federation shall mobilize its members and their families to reject this increase. As a show of disapproval we shall deliver petitions to all deports and offices of the EEC on dates to coincide with their intended effective date”, said the TUCOSWA Secretary General.