Tshwane admits owing R635 million in Eskom debt
“We understand our responsibility to service our debts. However, we must point out that our arrears with Eskom are less than 15 days old.”
Mayor Randall Williams has responded to claims that the Tshwane metro’s electricity bill with Eskom was in arrears, questioning why the metro was singled out.
Earlier today, the power utility released a statement stating that Tshwane contributed to the R43.8 billion owed to it by various customers.
The statement added that Tshwane’s payment patterns have been irregular over the past six months.
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Williams responded to the statement calling it “unnecessary and disingenuous” as he believed he and his team had a fruitful engagement with the Eskom team on Tuesday.
“Firstly, as of the end of December 2021, the City of Tshwane had fully paid its Eskom accounts,” he said.
“Currently, the City owes Eskom R635 million for its current account which we fully intend to pay, a commitment which was made to Eskom on Tuesday.”
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Williams questioned why the statement had singled out Tshwane when other municipalities also contributed to the debt.
The overall debt owed to Eskom by various customers stands at R43.8 billion.
“[This is] an amount which, for example, includes almost R4 billion owed by Emfuleni local municipality which goes back many years, along with various other municipalities across the country,” Williams said.
“We understand our responsibility to service our debts. However, we must point out that our arrears with Eskom are less than 15 days old.”
“The City of Tshwane finds it concerning that Eskom would write an entire press statement singling out the City’s current account. Particularly, because the City openly engaged with Eskom on its plans to ensure that this amount is paid in a meeting which took place this week.”
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While Williams admitted that the metro was in arrears, he said the nature of Eskom’s communication was “disingenuous” and undermined the spirit and ethos of the engagement, as Tshwane was a major client of the power utility.
He said the metro understood the importance of collecting arrears debt as they too were owed R1.2 billion in electricity bills by a large number of national government departments.
“This lack of payment often contributes to our financial challenges and forces us to implement credit control measures,” he said.
“Of course, we remain committed to paying what we owe and ensuring that we service our Eskom accounts.”
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