Eskom power cut deadline today

Officials from Eskom and Maluti a Phofung Local Municipality (MAP) gave conflicting statements last night over whether they have agreed a plan for the municipality to settle its debt or it will face punitive power cuts the electricity generator will impose on local authorities with overdue accounts beginning today.

Eskom in April gave the MAP and Ngwathe Local Municipality, — among several other municipalities countrywide owing the power firm — up today to clear their debts or submit settlement plans acceptable to the utility or face cuts.

The MAP owes Eskom more than R600 million, while Ngwathe, which lies to the north of the Free State, owes about R300 million.
Ngwathe last Thursday unsuccessfully applied for a court order barring Eskom from cutting off supplies. It however secured some temporary relief after the court barred Eskom from switching off the municipality for 14 days to give it time to work out a plan to pay what it owes.

But the fate of MAP was mired in confusion last night, with Executive Mayor Vusimuzi Tshabalala claiming the municipality will not be switched off because it agreed a settlement plan with Eskom last year – a claim the power firm strenuously rejected.

Tshabalala said the MAP had maintained an R8.9-million monthly instalment he said it had agreed with Eskom that it should pay towards clearing its debt. According to the mayor, this was contained in the settlement plan he said was clinched last year but which Eskom says does not exist.

The mayor — who urged residents not to panic over electricity — said the municipality skipped payments on two occasions and only because it had to divert the money towards paying for repairs to one of its transformers that was damaged by fire.

Tshabalala, who this week announced when he presented the MAP’s 2015/16 budget to council that the municipality was setting aside R180 million to go towards clearing the Eskom debt, said the local authority had informed Eskom of the problems with the transformer and that it would miss on its instalments.

Tshabalala said: “After this accident we then had to pay R24 million to repair the transformer and this threw us off track with Eskom. We could not pay our monthly instalments for two months and we explained this to Eskom. But we have budgeted this and we will be paying regularly from now on.”

But Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said yesterday that the power firm has not agreed any payment plan with MAP and Ngwathe. Phasiwe said the municipalities would be subjected to power interruptions if they did not pay up or submit acceptable settlement plans by today.
The MAP would be immediately affected, while Ngwathe would face power cuts if it has not paid up or submitted a settlement plan by next Wednesday when the two-week grace period granted by court lapses.
“We are still waiting for these municipalities to approach us. Right now (end of business on Thursday) the status remains and if they do not come forward before tomorrow then we have no choice but to implement power cuts,” Phasiwe told The Weekly.

He added: “We have been to court with Ngwathe … they have 14 days to pay us and if they fail then we will go ahead with the power cuts.”
Officials at Ngwathe could not be reached to find out how they were planning to avert power cuts. They were said to be locked up in meetings discussing the Eskom matter.

In the event that MAP and Ngwathe eventually fail to agree settlement with Eskom, residents in the two municipalities should brace themselves up for punishing power cuts stretching from 6am to 10am and 5pm to 9pm during the week. On weekends the residents would be without power from 7am to 10am and 5pm to 8pm.

But there was a glimmer of hope the worst could be avoided after the Free State department of treasury indicated it was going to intervene in the matter to ensure the lights stay on in the municipalities.

Department chief executive officer Godfrey Mahlatsi did not say whether it would come up with money to pay Eskom but said it would next week engage both the power firm and the municipalities to try and find a solution.

Mahlatsi said: “We will intervene and meet with Eskom over this matter on June 8. I cannot speak on behalf of Eskom and say what will happen with electricity provision in the meantime.”
Ngwathe with a population of just above 120 000 people is made up of the towns of Edenville, Heilbron, Koppies, Parys and Vredefort.

The MAP, which comprises the towns of Harrismith, Kestell and Phuthaditjhaba, has a population of more than 330 000 people.

There are fears that switching off electricity to municipalities could pose a major security and health risk, especially if the power cuts were to end up affecting critical institutions like hospitals, fire stations as well as water purification and sewer treatment plants, among others.