KZN: Will Newcastle’s power be switched off

Newcastle Municipality will be given an opportunity on Thursday, 3 October 2019, to convince the high court to force Eskom to refrain from switching off power to the town, Newscastle Advertiser reports.

The municipality filed an urgent application to interdict Eskom from proceeding with power interruptions at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Sunday.

The planned interruption to electricity supply was scheduled to commence at 6 am on Monday, 30 September 2019, but will be postponed pending the outcome of the court hearing, which takes place on October 3.

On Thursday, both Eskom and the Newcastle Municipality will be allowed to present arguments, before the court decides as to whether the interdict will be granted or not.

Eskom issued a notice of its intention to interrupt power supply on August 26, when Newcastle’s debt to the energy supplier exceeded R200 million.

In the month that followed, Newcastle Municipality failed to present a revised payment plan to Eskom, indicating how it intended to pay off its existing debt. It has also been unable to pay its current account on time.

More than 200 submissions were made by Newcastle residents and business owners via the Newcastle Advertiser, objecting to the planned power outage.

However, responses to the submissions have been negative because it would be impossible to isolate most consumers from the municipal distribution grid for individual households to receive electricity from Eskom directly, once the municipal area is switched off.

In its response to residents, Eskom indicated that its contractual relationship was with the Newcastle Municipality, and urged residents to direct queries to the municipality, as the municipality is the service provider to the residents who will be directly affected if the power interruption proceeds.