Tshwane debt to Eskom still hovering around R4-billion.
Eskom says despite the debt, Tshwane has submitted a payment proposal which it is honouring.
Eskom has announced that R3-billion of the R4-billion it has invoiced Tshwane is overdue.
Power utility spokesperson Amanda Qithi however, acknowledged that the municipality had changed tack from delaying payments to honouring the payment plan agreed to by both parties.
Qithi said: “Tshwane’s total debt is R4-billion, of which R3-billion is overdue.
“The city has also submitted a payment proposal which it is honouring.”
She said Eskom was doing all in its power to recoup what the Capital City owed, after it had filed legal proceedings against the metro.
“The matter is still in litigation. Eskom engages with the municipality and exhausts all avenues to try and recover what is due to it. However, in certain instances, the utility is forced to escalate the overdue debt to the National Treasury.”
Eskom has not been pleased with the Capital City’s failure to honour its debt for years.
“The payment patterns by Tshwane have deteriorated to concerning levels that further threaten Eskom’s liquidity, financial performance and sustainability,” said Eskom, adding that the erratic payments dated back to 2022.
“Despite all the avenues that Eskom has explored to recover what is due to the organisation… have failed to fully honour their payments and to comply with their electricity supply agreements.”
Tshwane is however not the only municipality in debt, as Eskom was owed R70 billion by September 2023 by a wide array of municipalities.
City of Tshwane and Ekurhuleni Municipality electricity debt a concern for Eskom in Gauteng pic.twitter.com/DQkw5DrSaM
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) December 12, 2023
Tshwane has yet to comment regarding its plan for paying the Eskom debt and its own methods to recoup what it is owed by ratepayers.
Recently during a council sitting, mayor Cilliers Brink said the debtor’s book was sitting at R23.3- billion
Tshwane implored residents to pay their bills because many had not been paying for water, property rates and waste management, “which not only hampered improvement to essential services but created an unfair burden on customers who diligently settled their bills each month”.
Finance MMC Jacqui Uys said in December, less than 10% of residents paid their municipal bills on time and in full.
This as the cash-strapped metro was on an aggressive credit control plan to recover billions of what defaulters owed.
“The city has approximately 850 000 accounts and only 84 500 had the full amount paid by due date,” said Uys.
Although 60% of the total amount billed in a month is paid, some customers did not pay on time or in full, she said.
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