Afriforum opposes Eskom’s decision to cut electricity
Afriforum says Eskom has no right to cut power to defaulting municipalities.
HIGHVELD – AfriForum submitted their comments on all the municipalities that received notices that their power supply will be discontinued due to poor payment to Eskom.
Eskom began issuing formal notices to municipalities with whom they could not reach repayment agreements.
They asked stakeholders who will be affected by the interruptions to submit the necessary comments before 2 June.
According to AfriForum, Eskom will take its final decision in only two days and publish it on 4 June.
“It is not enough time for a rational decision on something that may affect thousands of people, businesses, community organisations and government institutions such as hospitals and schools adversely,” said Mr Tiaan Esterhuizen, Manager: Community Affairs at AfriForum.
AfriForum warned Eskom that if they announced on 4 June that they would continue to disconnect municipalities’ power, they will receive an urgent interdict to prevent them from doing so in only two hours.
AfriForum added that Eskom has no right to cut municipalities’ power, because the municipalities have a constitutional and statutory responsibility to provide basic municipal services.
“It is also unconstitutional for Eskom to indirectly cut off the power supply of paid-up consumers who are entitled to electricity.”
According to Mr Esterhuizen, Eskom is supposed to make use of the remedies available in the Electricity Regulation Act, because it will be less drastic than disconnecting a community’s total electricity supply.
“Eskom can ask Nersa to issue a notice of compliance as per section 18 of the Act.
“If the municipalities then still do not comply with their license conditions, Nersa may fine them 10 per cent of their annual income or R2 million per day upon receipt of the notice.
Eskom can also ask Nersa to cancel the licenses of poorly paying municipalities and to allocate it to the district or to Eskom itself.
“Although AfriForum has sympathy with Eskom’s situation, we cannot allow paying consumers to be deprived of electricity services.
“Nersa and the MEC for local governments should have intervened earlier to prevent the accumulation of debt,” said Mr Esterhuizen.
