City Power granted leave to appeal Eskom ruling on billing dispute

Regional power utility City Power has been granted leave to appeal a Johannesburg High Court ruling in favour of Eskom, related to a billing dispute.

In June 2024, the High Court ordered the City of Johannesburg and City Power were ordered to pay over R1 billion, plus interest accrued, to Eskom for the cost of bulk electricity supply services for March.

Outstanding debt

The Citizen reported at the time that R1.073 billion, including interest, was due for the unpaid electricity account after Eskom approached the court in May to compel the regional power utility to settle its debt.

This after the utility started to default on its payments from October 2023. No payment was received for the March 2024 invoice either.

When the matter was heard on 4 June, the amount owed to Eskom was R3.4 billion.

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The City of Joburg contended that the April and May 2024 payments to Eskom are set off against the amount of over R3.4 billion owed to it by Eskom for previous overbilling.

Appeal

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the utility maintained that critical aspects of the evidence were not fully considered by the court in reaching its conclusion and reserved the right to appeal the judgment.

“Following consultation with legal representations, City Power submitted an application to appeal the court’s ruling on Tuesday, 06 August 2024. Judge NH Maenetje, presiding over the matter, was convinced by the arguments presented and granted leave to appeal, citing reasonable prospects of success in the appeal court.

“Furthermore, the court dismissed Eskom’s conditional application for City Power to pay the disputed amount pending the finalisation of the appeal application. Judge Maenetje ruled that Eskom would not suffer irreparable damage and suspended the order until the appeal court decides otherwise,” Mangena said.

Costs

Mangena said Eskom was also ordered to pay the costs of two legal counsels.

“City Power welcomes this development and looks forward to presenting its case in the appeal court,” Mangena said.

Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde

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