That means that from June 5 this municipality, along with nine other municipalities, will experience a bulk electricity shutdown.
“At this point in time we are doing everything possible to avoid the cut of by Eskom. Many initiatives we started over the past two years are also been fast tracked as we are now out of time,” Mr Theo van Vuuren, acting municipal manager said.
Van Vuuren explained should Eskom cut the municipality the blackout will be fully as they will interrupt supply to the municipality’s inlet stations. Those with prepaid electricity will also not have power while many paying people will equally be affected. There is no way to prevent this from happening should these forced interruptions take place.
“At this stage we are busy with contingency planning should the worse case scenario materialise to at least try and minimise traffic problems and to prevent large scale water disruptions as all our pump stations and purification plants will also be affected,” he said.
The payment agreements with the 20 defaulting municipalities which owe Eskom for non-payment of bulk electricity supply took place on Wednesday, April 29.
At the time the total municipal arrear debt greater than 30 days was R4.67 billion. Of this amount, the top 20 defaulting municipalities owed Eskom about R3.68 billion for the bulk supply of electricity. Since, the announcement, the total municipal arrear debt has been reduced by R54 million.
It was only Nama Khoi Municipality in Northern Cape, Nketoana Municipality, Nala Municipality and Dihlabeng Municipality in Free State, Thabazimbi Municipality in Limpopo, City of Matlosana in North West, Naledi Municipality and Madibeng Municipality in North West and Randfontein Municipality and Westonaria Municipality in Gauteng that have entered into payment agreements with Eskom.
The bulk electricity supplies of municipalities that have entered into a payment agreement with Eskom will not be interrupted. However, municipalities have to comply consistently with payment agreement terms on a monthly basis. If these conditions are not met, interruptions of supply will be implemented without further notice.
“Eskom has reached a point where it can no longer continue to provide power without receiving payment in return. We are pleased that these 10 municipalities are doing their bit to ensure that they reduce the debt owed to Eskom and we encourage all defaulting municipalities to do the same,” Eskom Acting Chief Executive Brian Molefe said.
From Mondays to Fridays the local municipality will experience a total blackout between 06:00 to 10:00 and 17:00 to 21:00.
On Saturdays and Sundays residents will be without electricity between 07:00 to 10:00 and 17:00 to 20:00.
Eskom recognises that this will cause undue hardship to members of the public and businesses in the affected areas, and also have an adverse effect on the delivery of other services. Eskom assures South Africa that power interruption and/or disconnection are always implemented as a last resort when all other viable options have been explored.
“Eskom is working closely with the relevant national and provincial departments through local, national and War Room structures to manage the municipal financial recovery process and we believe that the work being done within these structures will yield positive results,” Mr Molefe said.
Decision makers at the municipality are scrambling around trying to find solutions.
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