City of Tshwane threatens legal action against Eskom if power is disconnected

The City of Tshwane has threatened legal action against Eskom, should the power utility disconnect the capital’s power over its outstanding R1.17 billion bill.

On Wednesday, Eskom said in a statement that it would commence the process of disconnecting the city and act in line with the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act (IRFA).

According to MMC of Finance Peter Sutton, Eskom is currently owed over R49 million by municipalities. He added that the City of Tshwane has its own financial challenges.

He said disconnecting services would be illegal and should this happen, the City would interdict Eskom from proceeding.

“As communicated previously, due to the liquidity challenges of the City, we do not have access to reserve funds or short-term loan funding to bridge the cash deficit we are experiencing,” said Dutton.

“It remains important that we increase our revenue-collection levels to resolve the liquidity problem in the City. We therefore appeal to residents, businesses and other clients to pay their municipal accounts on time so that the City can be able to pay creditors like Eskom.”

He also added that his office was committed to paying its debt and that the City is taking this matter seriously by acting swiftly and would settle the full amount by 16 September 2022.

Dutton also claimed that Eskom’s statement was not truthful.

“In the interest of providing factual information to our residents, it is important to point out that Eskom’s media statement, which indicates that we offered to settle the outstanding amount within 76 days, is misleading. The City proposed a revised payment plan of 29 days, which Eskom has now rejected,” said Dutton.

 “We have further taken note that Eskom will declare a dispute in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act 13 of 2005), and we await further communication in this regard.”

“The City of Tshwane remains committed to finding a long-term financial solution to this challenge and ensures that Eskom invoices in the future are paid in full on the due date.”

NOW READ: Eskom rejects City of Tshwane’s payment arrangement on outstanding bill – disconnection looms

Editor’s Note: This article and its headline have been updated to correct an error. The initial headline indicated that the city plans legal action regarding the bill, which was a mistake. The legal action involves only the threats of disconnection, as the city contends this would be illegal.
Furthermore, the article had originally incorrectly stated that the city was owed R49 billion in outstanding electricity bills. It was meant to say that Eskom is owed R49 billion by numerous municipalities. We apologise for these errors.