Gauteng Health refutes City Power’s over R30 million hospitals electricity debt claim

The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) has denied claims that Helen Joseph Hospital and Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital owe City Power more thaan R30 million.

On Thursday, the power utility paid a visit to the hospitals during a revenue collection drive to hand over disconnection notices, alleging the two owed about R32 million in total.

Helen Joseph Hospital allegedly owes more than R23 million, while Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital owes more than R7 million, according to City Power.

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The hospitals were given 14 days to settle the outstanding balance, and failure to do so would result in the discontinuation or restriction of services and legal action being instituted.

“During this period of 14 days while waiting for the pre-termination to expire, we will exchange records and track which payments are actually made,” the general manager for revenue management at City Power, Thamsanqa Mathiso, said on Thursday.

“We will wait for the confirmations of payments, and if the payments come through, we are happy as City Power to confirm and not disconnect, but if it doesn’t, we will disconnect.”

Electricity billing in a “healthy state”

The department has, however, denied City Power’s claims, saying that both facilities’ electricity billing were in a “healthy state”.

The GDoH said that according to their records, Helen Joseph Hospital does not owe the power utility the stated R23,3 million.

“There is, however, only one invoice that is outstanding for the month of June 2023, which City Power has not uploaded to the e-invoicing portal,” said GDoH spokesperson Motalatale Modiba.

“In addition, Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital’s payment of R2,7 million from July to August 2023 is being processed.”

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The department said it met with officials from City Power to present their case and found that what is alleged to be due does not warranty power disconnection.

“The GDoH continues to ensure that supplier payments are processed within 30 days, subject to verification,” the GDoH said.

“As it stands, both facilities’ electricity billing is in a healthy state, and there won’t be any termination of electricity supply.”

Non-payment from government institutions

Meanwhile, on Thursday, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the utility was concerned about the levels of non-payment from government institutions.

“Government properties across the city owe over half-a-billion rand,” Mangena said.

“We will be clamping down on these defaulters as we intensify our revenue collection drive.”