HIGHVELD – Eskom was left with no choice but to halt its intended scheduled interruption of power supply in the area last week.
This came after Govan Mbeki Municipality had obtained a court order to prohibit Eskom from implementing the bulk power cuts in the municipal area.
The power utility issued a notice on various media platforms of their scheduled interruption of power supply to the municipality as from 21 May, because Council defaulted on their payment agreement.
The municipality owes Eskom more than R5-million.
Ms Thandi Ngxonono, executive mayor, said Council opted to approach the Pretoria High Court regarding the matter and said the municipality was dissatisfied with Eskom’s billing system.
She said the municipality was of the opinion that Eskom’s billing was not accurate and fair.
“We decided to apply for an interdict and we are glad that our application was successful. Eskom’s billing is too high.
“When we compare our consumption and their billing, they do not correspond.
“We are still expected to continue to pay Eskom and we urge our residents to keep paying for services delivered.”
Ms Ngxonono said part of the reason why the municipality had defaulted on their agreement with Eskom, was because of illegal connections in the area and non payment of services by residents and businesses.
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She said Council will continue to cut electricity to non paying residents to ensure that it can continue to pay the Eskom account to avoid problems in the future.
Eskom announced their decision not to proceed with the scheduled interruption of the power supply to this municipality in a press statement issued on 18 May.
“Eskom has been interdicted by the court today, 18 May 2018, pending the hearing of the review. Eskom will reconsider the scheduled interruptions after the court’s ruling on the review.
“Municipal customers are encouraged to engage with their supply authorities for updated information on their municipality’s arrears situation.”
Mr James Masango, DA spokesman of Cogta and Human Settlement, said it is time for the Govan Mbeki Municipality and the provincial government to come up with lasting solutions on the matter.
“The truth is the council is failing to handle the electricity matter in the area and we have been calling on them to hand it over to Eskom.
“Most of the residents are using prepaid meters, where does the money that they pay go to?
“This is an indication that the municipality uses the money to do other things.”
Mr Sibusiso Hlolweni, president of Sakhisizwe Progressive Movement (Sapromo), said the municipality taking Eskom to court over billing is prove that there is no monitoring and evaluation at the municipality.
“Eskom has been supplying electicity for such a long time and we only discover now that we are inaccurately billed.
“Sapromo has always been vocal about Eskom’s billing, but no one listened.
“This is a sign of incompetency. If we have competent people, we should have picked up this error long ago which would have saved us millions. The municipality is only working to achieve the minimum and strives for compliance and nothing more.”
