City of Ekurhuleni owes Eskom R544 million

Monday, 28 February 2022: The electricity debt owed to Eskom by Gauteng municipalities continues to escalate, as more fail to service their Eskom accounts.  The City of Ekurhuleni Municipality (“the City”) is among those whose debt has been increasing, with its bill accumulating to R544 million. 

On 18 February 2022, Ekurhuleni paid a partial amount of R530 million of its bulk accounts which total R1,074 billion that was due. The amount of R544 million remains outstanding as Eskom expects the City to pay the overdue amount. This is in breach of the electricity supply agreement between Eskom and the City, and it places a significant strain on the utility’s financial performance and sustainability. We have been engaging continuously with the City’s management on this matter, and subsequently escalated it to the Executive Mayor, Ms Tanya Campbell. However, no assistance was received from the Mayor, but instead Eskom was referred back to the City’s management by the Mayor. The late payments by the City has resulted in Eskom charging it interest of R86 million year to date.

“With all the engagements with the City’s management and the request for the Mayor to intervene, we have seen no action from them as no payment has been received thus far. It is disappointing to see how the municipality, together with the Mayor, are dealing with the matter as no sense of urgency is observed from them”, says the Senior Manager of Customer Services in Gauteng, Daphne Mokwena.

ENDS