Power interruptions to reduce Eskom debt in Emalahleni

The Emalahleni Local Municipality is taking drastic action in order to reduce losses in the electricity network caused by uncontrolled overloading, the culture of non-payment for electricity services and the illegal connections to the power network.

According to the Witbank News, a decision was taken to go ahead with the Protective Load Reduction Initiative which will be implemented in the areas where residents pay far less compared to their voluminous consumption of power.

These areas include:

Kwa-Thomas Mahlanguville, Lynnville, Thushanamg, Kwa-Guqa extensions 15, 16, 7, Emsangweni, Kwa-Guqa extensions 2,3,7 and 9, Kwa-Guqa extensions 4 and 5, Kwa-Guqa extensions 7,10, 11,18, Hlalanikahle extension 1,2,3,4 and 5, Empumelweni, Klarinet extensions 3, 4 and 5, Klarinet extensions 6,7 and 8, Thubelihle Township, Rietspruit Village and Phola Township.‎

Residents in these areas will not have electricity from 6am to 8am and 5pm to 7pm on weekdays.

On weekends, the electricity will be disrupted between 7am and 9am as well as between 5pm and 7pm.

The power interruptions will start on July 25.

Since January, The Citizen has reported that the Emalahleni Local Municipality was unable to honour their debt payments to Eskom.

The Witbank News reported that Eskom notified that an interruption of bulk supply to Emalahleni Local Municipality would commence on January 23 after careful consideration of the overall impact of the escalating municipal debt.

In a report at the end of January, the DA Mpumalanga spokesperson for cooperative governance James Masango was quoted as saying the party had been informed that the Emalahleni municipality may sell a piece of its land in a bid to services their debt to the power utility.

In February, Eskom said another seven days’ grace was given to municipalities with debts to Eskom. In The Citizen‘s report, it was stated that the Emalahleni Local Municipality was frantically looking for solutions to its the electricity challenge.

Then, later in February, the Witbank News reported that until the Emalahleni Local Municipality could come to a new arrangement with Eskom, residents would be without electricity twice a day. This after all the municipality’s current accounts were up to date, but Eskom wanted R277 million for outstanding debt.

– Caxton News Service

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