Eskom granted order to attach Emfuleni assets

Eskom on Monday obtained an order from the Pretoria High Court allowing it attach the assets belonging to Emfuleni Municipality.

“The electricity generator has started with the execution steps against the municipality to recover some of the municipality debt, including attaching the local authority’s bank accounts and movable assets,” the power utility said in a statement.

This comes after the power utility in September won a R1.3 billion judgment against the municipality over unpaid bulk electricity services.

Eskom to attach Emfuleni’s assets

Following the order, Eskom said it will be attaching Emfuleni’s bank account and some of its assets.

“The electricity generator has started with the execution steps against the municipality to recover some of the municipality debt, including attaching the local authority’s bank accounts and movable assets.”

ALSO READ: Municipalities and government departments owe Eskom more than R50 billion

Emfuleni Municipality owes Eskom R5.3 billion. The power utility said the municipality has not made any payments to settle the debt, despite several court orders.

WATCH: State owes Eskom about R50 billion: Ramaphosa

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R3.4 billion summons

Eskom has also served Emfuleni with a summons of R3.4 billion for the non-payment of its bulk electricity supply.

“To date, the local authority has failed to file a plea setting out the reasons for non-payment,” said Eskom.

Eskom, along with customers within the municipality, then applied to the court to transfer the municipality’s electricity distribution licence to Eskom. This matter is expected to be heard in March 2023.

Eskom said the large sums of money it is owed by municipalities is affecting the running of the state-owned entity (SOE).

“The overdue debt is impacting negatively on the public utility’s liquidity, financial performance, and sustainability, leaving the public utility no option but to borrow in order to meet its financial commitments,” it said.

ALSO READ: Tshwane metro on a mission to claw back billions from residents

Load shedding

Eskom on Sunday confirmed that stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm on Monday until 5am every morning.

It said the load shedding was necessary to “preserve emergency generation reserves” after a number of breakdowns.

It also said returning a unit to service at the Majuba Power Station had been delayed.

“We currently have 4 963MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 107MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.”

NOW READ: Eskom temporarily suspends load shedding – until Monday