01 Dec 2022

The Ministry of Minerals and Energy is in the process of drawing an electrification plan for the 2023/2024 financial year and this will give an opportunity for the villages of Thankane and Kanaku to be considered in the plan.

Minister Thulagano Segokgo told Parliament that the final list would be guided by among other things availability of funds for the year 2023/2024.

He also noted that once the process of selection for the electrification plan was completed, the final list with the schedule of implementation would be communicated to stakeholders.

Mr Segokgo said for the financial year 2022/2023, the ministry was allocated P40 million only for both new village electrification and village network extension under the Rural Electrification Programme.

“This resulted in only five villages being considered for new electrification with Kutuku and Khekhenye being selected for electrification from the Jwaneng-Mabutsane constituency,” he said.

He explained that the National Electrification Fund which collected a levy of 10thebe per kilowatt hour from users of electricity could only sustain the current National Electricity Standard Connection Cost which connected households and Village Development Committees only.

He said electricity access currently stood at 69 per cent hence government efforts to review the standard connection cost and introduce the low-income salary connection option of P2 500 excluding VAT to further make the programme affordable.

Jwaneng Mabutsane MP Mr Mephato Reatile had asked if there were any plans to electrify Thankane and Kanaku villages and whether the ministry would consider establishing standard electrification connection rates for business plots as was the case with residential plots. Ends