Councils purchase less power

Johannesburg - Purchases of electricity and gas by municipalities decreased by 34.2% or R4.2 billion rand between the quarters ended September 2010 and December 2010, figures from the latest quarterly financial statistics of municipalities released by Statistics SA on Wednesday showed.

Purchases of water increased by 18.9% or R392m in the quarter. 

Sales of electricity and gas fell 10.9% or R1.7bn between the two quarters, while an increase of 6.8% or R331m was recorded in the sales of water over the same period.

Property, plant and equipment increased by 0.2% or R509m between the two quarters.