Municipalities have explained that some of the challenges prevented them from settling their debts was that consumers, especially big businesses, were not paying for their electricity use and that electricity was being stolen through illegal connections.
As means of resolving the problem, MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta), Mr Simon Skhosana has instructed both Cogta and Provincial Treasury to assist municipalities to come up with a plan to pay Eskom as a matter of urgency.
Skhosana also instructed municipalities to thoroughly assess their engineering departments to make sure that they have skilled people with the correct qualifications and expertise to assist them to deal with electricity problems and root out illegal connections.
He also urged businesses to pay for their electriycity. “Municipalities must make sure that their bills are accurate and are sent to the correct addresses. Equally, consumers (both business and residential) must pay for the electricity that they consume or else municipalities will collapse,” said Skhosana.
