Communities must pay for electricity if Eskom is to succeed, Deputy President David Mabuza has said.

"Doing so is in the best interest of our country," he said on Tuesday morning at a Nedlac summit, which will see business, trade union and government leaders sign a social compact to support the ailing power utility.

The social compact will see the endorsement of labour federation Cosatu's proposal to use public servants' pensions to cut Eskom's debt of more than R500-billion.

The proposal was first unveiled a year ago and sparked an outcry from investors and pensioners. It was subsequently toned down to be more investor friendly.

Eskom currently survives off government bailouts after years of bad management followed by state capture corruption.

Mabuza told attendees at the hybrid Nedlac summit, which was hosted at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton, that there was no room for "apathy and cynicism" as the Eskom social compact deserved full support. "There is no tangible benefit in being enemies of hope. Rather, we benefit together when we are friends of optimism."

He said it was important to communicate and get the buy-in from citizens.

Said Mabuza: "Part of the Eskom social compact is about the revival of the campaign to encourage our people to pay for basic municipal services and to stop illegal electricity connections."

Damage and illegal power lines cost Eskom an estimated R71-million in the 2019-20 financial year, according to its own estimates. This excludes the loss of revenue.

Mabuza said it was encouraging that labour, business and government "managed to find common ground on a pragmatic and sensible programme of action with clearly identifiable timelines and milestones".

He said it included identifying and supporting innovative, cost-effective funding mechanisms to reduce Eskom's debt and identifying measures to assist Eskom and government to access fresh capital where required.

Mabuza also praised the collaboration of business, labour and communities at Nedlac for their efforts to try to mitigate the economic effects of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Joel Netshitenzhe from the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection said Nedlac needed to consider how to broaden its council system of representation by pulling in the second largest labour federation Fedusa as well as unemployed people.