(Photo: Gencraft)
Residents of Lindley, Petrus Steyn and Reitz can brace themselves for a winter with frequent power outages.
While other Free State municipalities have signed agreements with Eskom to normalize their overdue electricity bills and supply arrangements, according to Eskom, the Nketoana municipality has not taken any similar steps to achieve a solution.
As a result, power supply to towns in this municipality will be suspended twice a day from 8 May.
Residents of this district will be without power from 8 May daily between 07:00 and 09:00 and again between 18:00 and 21:00.
Nala, Masilonyana and Ngwathe municipalities managed to avert planned power outages after agreeing to enter into Distribution Agency Agreements (DAAs) with Eskom.
According to Stefanie Jansen van Rensburg, Eskom spokesperson, these agreements put the implementation of supply interruptions, which had been considered due to non-payment of electricity bills, on hold for the time being.
“As a transitional arrangement, and while the process to finalize the DAAs is still ongoing, it remains the responsibility of the municipalities to pay their current accounts.
(Photo: Eskom)
“The interruption or reduction of electricity supply remains suspended in the meantime, provided the municipalities meet their current payment obligations while the agreements are finalised.”
Eskom already warned in March that electricity supply would be interrupted if the situation was not resolved. After public participation, the power giant found that the submissions received did not offer a solution that would enable Eskom to continue to supply electricity to the Nketoana municipality in a sustainable manner.
Jansen van Rensburg says the municipality has failed to implement any of the available options, including taking a council decision for a DAA for power distribution with Eskom, concluding a prepayment agreement according to which only the bulk electricity that the municipality can afford is supplied, or making an arrangement where municipal customers pay their electricity consumption directly to Eskom.
Official letters were already sent on April 23 and notices are placed in local newspapers. Jansen van Rensburg makes a serious appeal to all those affected to take precautionary measures.
“All stakeholders who are likely to be materially and adversely affected by Eskom’s decision are requested to take the necessary precautions to limit the impact of the supply interruptions,” she says.