\u201cThe Minister must immediately intervene to halt these exorbitant payouts and redirect funds toward lowering the cost of electricity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pointed to the 2025 Eskom Integrated Report, which revealed a stark disconnect between operational reality and executive reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite an Energy Availability Factor of just 60.60%, well below international standards, Eskom allocated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- R4.2 billion for the Group Short-Term Incentive Scheme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- R1.2 billion in monthly production bonuses, a 200% increase from R0.4 billion in 2024.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- That amounts to an average bonus of over R128,000 per employee, more than most South Africans earn in an entire year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese billions that it gave employees are not self-funded excellence. It is a transfer from the national fiscus directly into the pockets of Eskom employees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMeanwhile, Eskom\u2019s headcount grew by 1,405 people year-on-year to 42,030, an inexplicable expansion for a utility of this size and financial fragility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mileham said Eskom cannot function as a private wealth fund for its employees while remaining a public burden on every South African taxpayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another big increase for Eskom employees<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Kgosientsho-Ramokgopa-1200x675.jpg\")
Electricity and Energy Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Eskom revealed its latest employee benefit data during a presentation to the Standing Committee on Appropriations on 24 March 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It showed that Eskom employee benefits have increased by 37% in the past two financial years, from R35 billion to R48 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa explained that numerous factors drove this significant increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first is performance incentives, which were paid to Eskom employees where performance metrics were met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These incentives included the reintroduction of the 2025 Short-Term Incentive (STI) for the first time in eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also a production bonus and rewards for employees for improved efficiency, operational productivity and performance in the production environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another factor was the implementation of the 2022\/23 multi-year wage agreement linked to collective bargaining outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also a critical skills recruitment and vacancy filling to stabilise the business following a period of workforce reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was also higher overtime, standby, and shift costs to execute operational recovery plans, notably the Generation Recovery Plan,\u201d Ramokgopa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe also addressed income differentials to align remuneration with the market and to correct historical pay equity gaps to bring previously disadvantaged groups up to parity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom further implemented retention interventions and relocation costs to secure scarce technical and operational skills in critical business areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another thing which increased costs was actuarial adjustments to long-term employee benefit obligations driven by inflation and healthcare cost changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last factor was the in-sourcing of key services, reversing previous outsourcing decisions and shifting personnel costs from contractors into employee benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eskom’s employee benefits have increased from R35 billion to R48 billion in two years, the biggest in the history of the power utility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":651014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[105626,181,101107,69615,84835,97463],"class_list":["post-651011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-andrew-bateman","tag-eskom","tag-generation-recovery-plan","tag-kevin-mileham","tag-kgosientsho-ramokgopa","tag-standing-committee-on-appropriations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651011"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651018,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651011\/revisions\/651018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- That amounts to an average bonus of over R128,000 per employee, more than most South Africans earn in an entire year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- R1.2 billion in monthly production bonuses, a 200% increase from R0.4 billion in 2024.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n