Ekurhuleni may soon be plunged into darkness

(Archive photo: X)

Eskom is threatening to cut off the Ekurhuleni metro on the East Rand’s power supply on 14 April due to overdue debts of R3.4 billion.

The power giant has notifications on March 6 in, among other things The Citizen posted in which interested parties are invited to make submissions before 6 April on the issue, which will be finally decided on 14 April.

Among other things, Ekurhuleni provides power to the OR Tambo International Airport and has several large industries in the area.

The notices follow a media statement the previous day in which Eskom indicated that it wants to deal with a total of 14 municipalities after they ignored its bills for their bulk power purchases for a full 18 months.

According to Eskom, the outstanding debt of municipalities to Eskom already amounts to R110 billion.

Eskom says it has made several interventions to ensure that Ekurhuleni settles its debts, but without success. This includes a debt settlement process as far back as 2023 after Ekurhuleni failed to pay its bill and questioned the interest charged on the arrears. Eskom has undertaken to review the interest once Ekurhuleni starts paying its bill and the metro has presented several payment plans. This was not observed time and time again.

According to Eskom, the only options left to it are to switch Ekurhuleni to pre-paid power and then only supply what is paid for, or to enter into an agreement with the metro board whereby power users pay Eskom directly for the power they use.

This can apparently be done according to Eskom’s rates instead of municipal rates and can work out significantly cheaper for power users.

Eskom has published a list of the supply points where it is considering cutting off the power.

Amanda Qithi, the Gauteng spokesperson for Eskom’s distribution department, told Maroela Media that the submissions from the public will help Eskom identify emergency infrastructure that can be excluded from the cut-off action.

Maroela Media has asked Eskom for a list of the other 13 municipalities facing a similar fate and will publish it as soon as it is received.