Staff Reporter.
Eskom has revealed that the City of Tshwane and the City of Ekurhuleni owe the power utility a combined R4.7 billion.
The power utility announced on Wednesday that the municipal electricity debt in Gauteng continues to increase rapidly.
Tshwane has accumulated a debt of about R3.2 billion over July and August 2023 due to erratic payments, while Ekurhuleni’s debt is presently just under R1.5 billion, the state-owned power utility said.
Eskom said that the payment patterns by both municipalities have deteriorated to concerning levels that “threaten Eskom’s liquidity, financial performance, and sustainability
“The erratic payments by the City of Tshwane dating back to 2022 are alarming. Also of serious concern is the entrenched practice by the City of Ekurhuleni of settling its account late over the past six months,” said Eskom in a statement.
Despite all the avenues explored to recover the money, Eskom said both municipalities have failed to fully honour their payments and to comply with their electricity supply agreements.
Eskom has previously stated that it is willing to work with municipalities to ensure that payments are made – and some form of conditional debt relief is in the pipeline – however, its interactions with Tshwane have hit several dead-ends.
On top of having to contend with its unpaid electricity bill in the midst of a financial crisis, Tshwane is also suffering multiple service delivery failures due to ongoing illegal strikes over the city blocking public service wage hikes.
Power infrastructure has been failing repeatedly in various regions of the municipality, with limited team capacity available to address it.
Tshwane’s has said in the past that Eskom’s public statements have not been in good faith as the power utility was aware of the metro’s financial situation, and that they were in negotiations.