The agency agreement between Eskom and the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) to manage both municipal electricity infrastructure and revenue flow was supposed to have been concluded at the end of January.

The ground-breaking agreement is eagerly anticipated by not only municipalities across South Africa, but also by civil society and organised business throughout the country as a way to resolve crippling electricity debt and ensure payment to Eskom.

“All stakeholders need this agreement to move forward with paying Eskom direct by all Emfuleni consumers both residential and business – we urge ELM and Eskom to reach a workable agreement rapidly,” said Jaco Verwey, President of the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC).

The GTCoC initiated the High Court action which resulted in a judgment last year ordering both ELM and Eskom to develop a strategy and plan for all electricity consumers in Emfuleni to pay Eskom direct instead of ELM.

The Johannesburg High Court ordered in mid-2023 that the two entities reach a workable agreement within six months but this deadline was exceeded by both parties.

High-level political and Eskom sources told Vaalweekblad that a final agreement between the two often-feuding State entities was within sight, possibly even early in March.

Once reached, the agreement is expected to provide a model for co-operation between defaulting municipalities and Eskom, which is owed about R55 billion by municipalities across South Africa – including ELM which owes almost R7 billion.

ELM and Eskom have had an openly-hostile relationship for years preceding the Pay Eskom direct judgment, with Eskom regularly attaching ELM’s bank accounts and even vehicle fleet.

The two parties started working together since the judgment but the relationship continued at times to be acrimonious, even resulting in January 2024 in Eskom sending a letter of demand for payment of the municipality’s current account, on which they had defaulted.

But the letter was seen as posturing by Eskom as all litigation between the two parties is frozen since the National Treasury accepted ELM into its debt-relief programme in 2023.

Eskom cannot therefore attach ELM’s bank accounts or assets, regardless of the status of its payments to he bulk utility provider.