LISTEN: Tshwane electricity debt balloons to almost R2bn, legal action threatened

Tshwane’s electricity bill has ballooned to R1.9-billion as of June, and Eskom is threatening legal action.

Gauteng senior customer services manager Mpumelelo Mnyani said on June 14 that Tshwane had been regressing in its financial obligations to the power supplier.

Tshwane had failed to pay fully two of its monthly payments to Eskom and is scheduled to pay almost a billion to Eskom by June 17 for May.

“The March invoice, which was payable on April 19 was short paid by R179-million, while the April invoice of R776-million payable on May 18 remains unpaid. Eskom has issued the May invoice of R904-million payable on June 17 to the City,” said Mnyani.

Eskom said it had engaged with Tshwane on numerous occasions regarding its failure to settle the debt owed.

“The power utility has appealed to the metro to immediately settle the March and April invoices and pay its monthly accounts on the due date.

“Eskom does not have the financial capacity to continue supplying bulk electricity to the city without the necessary payments.”

Mnyani said Eskom had in the past escalated this matter to National Treasury and Cogta, however, regardless of all these efforts, the situation was worsening.

“As Eskom’s cash flow challenges and the provisions of Public Finance Management Act dictate, Eskom is accordingly exploring all avenues available to it to recover this debt including, but not limited to, approaching the courts for relief,” Mnyani said.

Tshwane mayoral chief of staff Jordan Griffiths said it had been planning a press conference to debrief media on the financial position of the metro.

Previously Rekord reported that a similar fate to what befell Emfuleni where Eskom obtained a R1.3-billion judgment to attach assets to offset arrears could befall Tshwane.

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