Eskom got a taste of its own medicine on Thursday when uMhlathuze disconnected its Empangeni office due to an outstanding bill.
There was widespread disbelief that the country’s power utility, which has plunged South Africa into darkness, disconnected residents and taken municipalities to court for nonpayment, defaulted on payments for electricity supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal north coast municipality.
uMhlathuze city manager Nkosenye Zulu said: “Generally Eskom is a very good customer when it comes to payment ... However, due to some internal issues, payments here and there were missed. Eskom has many sites in our region and these sites are responsible for their invoices.”
He said the main Eskom office in Empangeni was up to date, but some were not.
"We use consolidated billing, which means we can disconnect any of the properties owned by the client. There is a Constitutional Court ruling on that. The main office was not in arrears, but we disconnected it because other Eskom sites were.”
The power utility owed about R430,000.
“By Thursday afternoon this was reduced to about R180,000 because Eskom made payment. I instructed that the office be reconnected because I have faith Eskom will pay up."
Zulu added that the decision to disconnect state entities or residents was not easy, but the city had to deliver services and therefore had to recover what was owed to it.
Mhlathuze Water, which was also disconnected on Thursday, owed R53m over a year. Upon disconnection, it paid R30m and entered into a repayment plan.
“We are customers of Eskom and Mhlathuze Water. We pay our bills on time, so we expect the same. We can’t deliver services if we do not get paid,” Zulu said.
Eskom said the disconnection took it by “surprise”.
General manager Agnes Mlambo only learnt of the arrears hours before the city pulled the plug.
“I advocate for the payment of all services rendered, be they at a personal or organisational level. As such, it was with dismay that I received the message that Eskom was in arrears with the City of uMhlathuze. Eskom fully supports strict credit-control measures and the disconnection of defaulting entities, as it has experienced the consequences of nonpayment of its services by defaulting municipalities and customers. Therefore, Eskom commits to fulfil its financial obligations for all services it consumes,” said Mlambo.
The power utility said preliminary reconciliation showed some Eskom sites that were disconnected were paid up, “which is regrettable, as these sites were also disconnected without receiving the requisite notice”.
“Eskom is in discussion with the municipality to determine the amount owed at other sites and payment will be effected as soon as that process is complete.”
Meanwhile, the departments of education, transport and social welfare, which were also disconnected for nonpayment, remain without power.
“Education owes R4.5m and transport about R1.1m. These amounts are still outstanding,” said Zulu.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.