Eskom rejects City of Tshwane payment arrangement

Wednesday, 31 August 2022: Eskom has rejected the proposed payment arrangement from the City of Tshwane (“the City”) and is still considering disconnecting the City to secure the payment of the outstanding R1.17 billion. The municipality has to date paid R448 million after failing to settle its electricity account which was payable on 17 August 2022. Eskom billed the City R1.6 billion for the month of July 2022, which the municipality has failed to pay in full, therefore breaching the Electricity Supply Agreement it holds with Eskom.

The power utility met with the municipality’s management on 24 and 30 August 2022 to further appeal to the City to settle the outstanding payment. The City proposed to settle the outstanding payment after 76 days which is not in line with the contract it has with Eskom nor the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). Eskom rejected this proposal as unacceptable given its current financial position. The municipality assured the power utility that it will pay the outstanding R1,2 billion, but it only made a payment of R80 million. These erratic payments place a huge challenge on Eskom to continue supplying the City with electricity.

Eskom will proceed with the process of disconnecting the City and act in line with the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act (IRFA). We have also stopped all projects in the pipeline and will invoke security guarantees.

ENDS