Eskom forges ahead with plan to disconnect City of Tshwane

President Cyril Ramaphosa might find himself in the dark at the Union Buildings as Eskom plans to disconnect the City of Tshwane.

Sep 1, 2022 - 08:39
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Eskom forges ahead with plan to disconnect City of Tshwane

National power supplier, Eskom, says it has rejected the proposed payment arrangement from the City of Tshwane Municipality and is still considering disconnecting the metro to secure the payment of the outstanding R1.17 billion. 

As previously reported, Eskom said out of all the eight metro municipalities in the country, the City of Tshwane is the only one that has erratic payments.

LIGHTS MIGHT BE OFF IN THE CITY OF TSHWANE

According to Eskom, the City of Tshwane has to date paid R448 million after failing to settle its electricity account which was payable on 17 August 2022.

As previously reported, Eskom billed the City R1.6 billion for the month of July 2022, which the municipality has reportedly failed to pay in full, therefore breaching the Electricity Supply Agreement it holds with Eskom.

City of Tshwane Eskom
Executive Mayor, Randall Williams. PHOTO: Facebook/City of Tshwane

Eskom Gauteng Senior Customer Services Manager, Daphne Mokwena said the power utility met with the municipality’s management on 24 and 30 August 2022 to further appeal to the City to settle the outstanding payment. 

Mokwena said the City of Tshwane proposed to settle the outstanding payment after 76 days which is not in line with the contract it has with Eskom nor the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). 

Furthermore, Mokwena said Eskom rejected the proposal as unacceptable given its current financial position. 

“The municipality assured the power utility that it will pay the outstanding R1,2 billion, but it only made a payment of R80 million. These erratic payments place a huge challenge on Eskom to continue supplying the City with electricity.

“Eskom will proceed with the process of disconnecting the City and act in line with the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act (IRFA). We have also stopped all projects in the pipeline and will invoke security guarantees.”

Daphne Mokwena

On Tuesday, 23 August 2022, Finance Minister in the City, Ald Peter Sutton acknowledged the R1,6 billion debt and said they are servicing it.

“The amount owed is only 4 days old and relates to July, all prior debt was paid and this is only a current invoice. Our entire value system is not aligned; Eskom payment date is in 15 (16 August) Tshwane invoices for July are payable around 21 August,” Sutton said then.

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