"Part of the requirements is that municipalities need to address the issues of illegal connections and ensure that households have prepaid metre systems and that they have to be diligent payers over 12 months." 

During his weekly update on the Energy Action Plan on Monday, Ramokgopa said municipalities collectively owe Eskom around R64 billion in outstanding payments.

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"So we have to address conditions of illegality, the state must come into that space and ensure we remove all the illegal connections and protect the poor." 

He said municipal debt continues to put a strain on the state-owned entity's ability to invest in generation infrastructure.