From its deck of cards, Eskom has decided to play its ace and interrupt the bulk electricity supply to six local municipalities in Mpumalanga from Monday, 23 January.
This interruption will result in scheduled disconnections midweek from 06:00 to 08:00 and 17:00 to 19:30 and on weekends from 08:30 to 11:00 and 15:00 to 17:30.
Eskom recently released a notice to all parties likely to be materially and adversely affected by its intention to interrupt bulk supply to municipalities.
After careful consideration to all written representations, comments and/or submissions received, which, among others, detailed the negative effect the contemplated interruption is likely to have on residents and business, and the fact that some customers are indeed paying for their power, Eskom decided to proceed and implement the the interruption of bulk supply to Chief Albert Luthuli and Msukaligwa Local municipalities.
The Highvelder spoke to a number of business owners in both municipalities, who were livid at the prospect of being without electricity for certain hours.
They were all unhappy that their businesses would be incurring losses and some of them complained about having to invest in buying generators they had not budgeted for and complained about the diesel price.
A medical practitioner and a dentist the Highvelder spoke to said this would bring seriously strain to their businesses, as they normally have a lot of consultations in the morning which would now be lost to competitors with generators, which would really hurt their income.
Some spaza shop owners said as much as this was an inconvenience, they are not bothered a lot, as some of them open from 08:00 in any case, but added that this was not good for electrical appliances such as refrigerators.
Another reason for discontent is that there are honest businessmen and residents that pay for their services against those that either do not or simply steal electricity.
Last month, the Chief Albert Luthuli Municipality said businesses owed the municipality in excess of R42 million and government departments owed R40 million.
Other affected players in the cast include consumers who have to prepare for work and school daily.
Some learners that spoke to the Highvelder said Eskom should rather consider moving the morning schedule to 08:00 to 10:00 when they are already at school.
Other municipalities affected by Eskom’s decision include eMalahleni, Mkhondo, Mbombela and Lekwa.
Eskom also announced that it may upon 15 calendar days’ notice disconnect electricity entirely and indefinitely should the electricity debt situation not improve.
At the time of going to print on Tuesday, the Highvelder was unable to obtain comment from the affected municipalities, as officials were in a meeting called by the Premier of Mpumalanga with Eskom and Salga to resolve the matter.
