City of Tshwane owes Eskom R1.9b as it defaults on its debt

The City of Tshwane has once again defaulted in payment of its Eskom debt which has now escalated to just under R1,9 billion as at 9 June 2023.

This was revealed by Eskom on Wednesday, 14 June.

CITY OF TSHWANE ESKOM DEBT ESCALATES

According to the power utility, the March 2023 invoice, which was payable on 19 April 2023, was short paid by R179 million, while the April 2023 invoice of R776 million which was payable on 18 May 2023, remains unpaid.

Eskom said it has issued the May 2023 invoice of R904 million payable on 17 June 2023 to the City.

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The Metropolitan Municipality made headlines in the past year for failing to settle its debt. It argued that it is being singled out from other municipalities who are not paying Eskom its dues on time. In turn, the power utility said the City is the only metro that has erratic payments.

WILL APPROACHING THE COURT ASSIST?

Eskom Senior Manager for Customer Services in Gauteng, Mpumelelo Mnyani said the power utility has engaged with the City of Tshwane on numerous occasions regarding its failure to settle the debt it owes Eskom.

The power utility has appealed to the City to immediately settle the March and April 2023 invoices and to pay its monthly accounts on the due date.

Mnyani said Eskom does not have the financial capacity to continue supplying bulk electricity to the City without the necessary payments.

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Eskom has in the past escalated this matter to National Treasury and CoGTA, however, regardless of all these efforts, the situation is reportedly worsening.

“As Eskom’s cash flow challenges and the provisions of PFMA dictate, Eskom is accordingly exploring all avenues available to it to recover this debt including, but not limited to, approaching the courts for relief,” he said.

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