Electricity will not be disrupted on Monday, January 23… (If we pay)

Emalahleni has 10 days to get R400-million to pay Eskom.

The power utility, has after the Minister of Public Enterprises Ms Lynne Brown intervened and asked Eskom to be lenient, decided to give defaulting municipalities a few more days before they disrupt electricity supply.

In a press release Eskom said,

“Granting municipalities until the end of January to settle their arrear amounts is consistent with the compassion Eskom has demonstrated since the commencement of our engagements with the municipalities.”

In terms of the Electricity Supply Agreement with the municipalities, the Eskom Distribution Licence Conditions and the Electricity Regulation Act (Act 4 of 2006), Eskom is allowed to disconnect customers for non-payment after having given customers a 14-day written notice. Disconnections are thus regarded as a credit control measure to protect Eskom’s financial position.

It is now crunch time for Emalahleni Local Municipality who has undertaken several initiatives to get residents to pay their accounts.

Municipal Manager Mr Theo van Vuuren asked residents to ensure that their municipal accounts are paid in full to avoid being cut off and penalised. In trying to encourage customers to bring arrear accounts in good standing, council has in terms of the credit policy, decided to enforce the following incentives: apply a 10% discount on current account payments if accounts are paid in full on or before the third of the month; on arrears of shorter than 90 days, waive interest plus 10% of the capital amount; on arrears of between 90 and 180 days waive interest plus 50% of capital; on arrears of older than 180 days waive interest plus 50% of capital; on partial payments of above 50% will only be considered for waiving of interest.

The capital discount is capped at R50 000, except in exceptional cases which further discounts can be negotiated.
These incentives are applicable from January 16 until March 31.

The municipal accounts department will be open on Saturday, January 21 from 08:00 to 13:00 to assist the public with their accounts.