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

Power utility Eskom has rejected the City of Tshwane’s payment arrangement on the city’s outstanding R1.17 billion bill, and as things stand, plans to disconnect the capital’s power to secure the payment are looming.

According to a statement issued by Eskom, the City has paid R448 million thus far and was not successful in making a payment on 17 August.

The city was billed R1.16 million for the month of July, which it could not pay and this has resulted in a breach of the Electricity Supply Agreement it holds with Eskom.

 “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. The City 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),” read a statement from Eskom. 

“Eskom rejected this 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.”

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The power utility said it would commence the process of disconnecting the city and act in line with the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act (IRFA). Eskom has also stopped all projects in the pipeline and will invoke security guarantees.

Last week, the power giant said it would continue to apply different approaches to recover money owed to it and has acquainted the MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs of the risks associated with the late payment of the City of Tshwane’s electricity account.

 “The inconsistent payments are both untenable and unacceptable since Eskom’s financial position is well known. The City’s persistent failure to honour its payments places a huge burden on Eskom to continue providing it with electricity,” the statement from Eskom read.

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