Electricity crisis not yet over: Legal process to be followed, says Eskom

Eskom, in a statement last Friday, said that the electricity supplier has postponed the planned interruption of bulk electricity supply to two defaulting municipalities in the Free State, pending a legal process that is currently underway. This includes the

This includes the Ngwathe municipality (Parys, Vredefort, Heilbron, Koppies and Edenville) that received notice in April that, with effect from 5 June, bulk electricity supply would be interrupted for 8 hours daily during the week and for 6 hours daily over weekends. This arose from the municipality’s long-outstanding Eskom account.

Eighteen of the top 20 municipalities in arrears have responded to Eskom’s request for payment by putting plans in place. Ngwathe is still in the legal process for non-payment and the municipality’s matters will be dealt with within the confines of that process, Eskom said. The top 20 defaulting municipalities make up 90% of the outstanding municipal debt to Eskom.

It is with this in mind, that Eskom is announcing the start of interruption of bulk power supply. This affects municipalities that are in arrears and those who have defaulted on payment plans that were agreed upon by Eskom, the statement said.

Communities within municipal areas targeted for interruption will be provided 48 hours’ notice in their local media, Eskom said. Any municipality that is currently honouring its payment plans but who defaults in future will immediately be given 48 hours’ notice before the supply is interrupted.

Eskom will upload information on its website www.eskom.co.za on a regular basis. Meanwhile, Ngwathe spokesperson, Steve Naale, said the municipality is confident that its payment plan for the outstanding Eskom account will be workable, but that the municipality simultaneously needs to continue implementing other service delivery commitments.

He said the municipality will continue with their flagship project, ‘Operation Patala Ditshebeletso’ – where the mayor, Cllr Joey Mochela is encouraging residents to continue paying for their services to allow the municipality to pay its creditors, including Eskom, and improve the delivery of services.

He says the campaign has yielded positive results in terms of fixing faulty meters, verifying indigent households and cutting supply to those who do not adhere to the agreements they have made with the municipality. “While defaulters owe us a combined amount of at least R700 million, this campaign has improved our revenue,” he said.

He thanked the Office of the Free State Premier, COGTA, Treasury, the Department of Energy, SALGA and other government departments both at Provincial and National level who assists Ngwathe in their revenue enhancement actions.

“We request our residents to cooperate with the Police to deal with criminals selling electricity illegally in the municipality,” Naale concluded.