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Johannesburg - Cutting off power intermittently to five Eastern Cape municipalities on Tuesday is a last resort measure, said Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe.
As required by the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, Eskom had given Aliwal North, Steynsburg, Jansenville, Bedford and Adelaide municipalities sufficient notice to settle their debt, which totals R173m.
“Unfortunately they did not,” he said, adding that the utility opted to implement power interruptions instead of total electricity cut-off.
“Our customer is the municipality,” Phasiwe said.
Phasiwe said the power interruptions were Eskom’s last resort to recover the money. He said Eskom had taken necessary steps to recover the debt before the interruptions.
“We wrote them letters. We also involved other stakeholders such as provincial co-operative governance and Traditional Affairs leadership and the South African Local Government Association,” he said.
Rising municipal debt is a long-standing problem for Eskom. National Treasury earlier this year urged municipalities to honour their financial obligations to the power supplier.
Eskom would interrupt power supply three times a day, from 06:00 to 09:00, 12:00 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 21:00.
Residents and businesses in the affected municipalities - some of whom have been paying their electricity bills diligently - will bear the brunt of the move.
READ: Municipalities at war with Treasury blame Eskom
In May, former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene said Treasury had resorted to withholding equitable share payments to municipalities with outstanding debts to Eskom and who failed to acknowledge the debt. Nene said this was done to ensure Eskom’s financial and operational stability.
