By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The City of Johannesburg has slammed Eskom’s decision to apply to the High Court for a declaratory order against City Power over its outstanding debt of R1 billion.
On Monday, Eskom announced that it had taken legal action against the Johannesburg utility in an effort to obtain a declaratory order to force the utility to pay the debt.
The case is expected to be heard on 4 June.
Eskom said City Power started to default on its payments in October 2023, and no payment was received for the March 2024 invoice.
However, the City of Joburg said that Eskom is not giving the full story, and that the utility owes the city billions of rands due to inaccurate overcharging for the last three years.
“Following multiple discussions regarding queries lodged in connection with grossly inaccurate billing on bulk purchase invoices, Eskom has opted to ignore those issues and rushed to the courts,” the city said.
“The city is of the strong view that the financial obligations of City Power to Eskom vs the financial obligations of Eskom to the city should be treated in the same manner and symmetrically,” it said.
The City of Joburg said it pays Eskom about R1 billion for electricity monthly, and it “remains committed to paying for services rendered and validated as due, as it always has”.
However, it added that the fight over the money should be viewed in the context of Eskom “overbilling for services each month since 2021”.
“City Power validates bulk purchases for completeness and accuracy using its own check metering infrastructure at major intake substations.
“In instances of potential discrepancies, it must be noted that it is due to this checked metering infrastructure that City Power was able to ascertain and quantify the extent of overbilling by Eskom.
“Eskom is notified as the billing authority in line with provisions of relevant NRS standards, including NRS057. More often than not, the national utility chooses to ignore these discrepancies that are brought to their attention.
“Eskom has admitted in some cases that there have been potential billing inaccuracies and has so far refunded City Power at least R483 million over the recent years,” it said.
The City confirmed that it will be opposing Eskom’s court application, set for June, because it has “no basis in facts and law.”