Emalahleni Local Municipality is trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat to avoid electricity disruptions from Eskom.
The municipality has to pay the power utility R450-million by next week.
Several incentives were put in place to encourage residents to settle their accounts.
“We are seeing encouraging numbers of customers making use of this and need most to do so to make a real difference to our situation. During the first few days of this scheme some questions arose which we hope the following section will be able to clarify,” said Mr Theo van Vuuren, municipal manager.
To qualify for discount on early payment, your account must be up to date and full current account must be paid prior to the third of the month. The municipality will credit the account with the discounted amount and the next month’s account will reflect it.
On qualifying for discounts on arrear – the arrears status as on 16 January will be used as base line regarding the age of the debt. Should customers want to wait for arrears below 90 or 180 days to pass those periods, the applicable discount on the amount as on January 16 will be applied. The scheme is intended to accelerate payments. Deliberate delays will not assist. To qualify the full discounted arrears amount must be paid. Customers need to deal of each account separately and only one discount per account will be allowed. However for early payments on the current account this will apply until the incentive scheme is reviewed or cancelled.
At the end of the moratorium that ends on March 31 all customers with arrears of three months and older will be handed over to legal processes to recover monies and blacklisted. No incentives will then apply anymore.
During the moratorium period normal credit measures will apply and customers with arrears will still be cut off unless they enter into arrangements or settle their accounts.
Where any tempering of meters found, this will attract penalties. Penalties so incurred do not qualify for any discounts.
Purchases of prepaid at this stage do not qualify for any discounts. The normal balance on the customer’s account (other items) does qualify. Note that customers with prepaid electricity will still face credit control actions should their normal account not be in good standing.
Businesses and households equally qualify for the incentives.
Where there are disputes, the dispute must be finalised and a unique correction agreed which could include discounts based on the incentive scheme. Settlement of the dispute will be final and will not attract further incentives.
Where customers have entered into agreements the repayment of the agreed instalment as part of the current account payments will also attract the 10% incentive. Any default on any repayment agreement if not corrected with the next monthly account will mean immediate termination of the agreement. Where any customer with an arrangement want to settle the outstanding balances it can be dealt with within the arrangements of the incentive scheme if within the time limits of the scheme.
The maximum allowable discount is R50 000 on the outstanding including interest waived.
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