EEC Customers Increase by 12 196 To Reach 258 304 in 2022 Financial Year

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By Phesheya Mkhonta

The Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) has recorded an increase of 12 196 new customers.

The increase means that EEC now has a total of 258 304 customers. This information is contained in EEC’s Annual Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2022. Please note that by the time of compiling this report, the figures may have changed.

According to the report under review, total revenue for the year amounted to E2.462 billion, which is almost the same as the E2.452 billion reported last year. The company attributes the stunted growth to the combined effects of COVID-19 and the political unrest during the year.

EEC notes that another factor that impacted the financial performance of the Company is the fact that, having endured a two-year tariff freeze, the Energy Regulator (ESERA) awarded a negative aggregate tariff adjustment for the two years commencing with the year under review.

“Profit after tax for the year amounted to E211 million compared to E379 million in the previous year. The profit after tax has been on a declining trend over the past four years, mainly due to the cumulative effect of adverse tariff decisions over this period while absorbing very high increases from import tariffs.”

The biggest contributors to the increase in customers for the EEC were what the company terms ‘domestic’ customers. “Of the 12 196 new customers or connections, 11 656 were “domestic” (most were from rural electrification projects, which were propelled by funding from the Government of Eswatini), 531 were “small commercial” and nine were “large” customers.

Interestingly, 51% of the company’s revenue generated was from ‘large customers’, which indicates a decrease as the previous year, the same segment of customers contributed 52% to total revenue.

Small commercial customers on the other hand contribution remained the same at 15%, while small domestic customers’ contribution grew marginally by 1%. Revenue from “domestic” customers grew by 6% year-on-year, whereas “small commercial” declined by 2%, and “large” customers declined by 0.4%.

EEC attributes the drop in revenue drop for small commercial customers to the adoption of alternative solar generation.

“The drop in sales revenue from the “commercial” customers was driven by the reduction in tariffs and partly the adoption of alternative solar generation. On the other hand, sales units for “domestic” grew by 1.5%, mainly owing to the increase in the number of “domestic” customers. However, “small commercial” dropped by 1.7%, whereas “large” customers grew slightly by 1.2%.”

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