Eskom has issued a disconnection notice for bulk electricity supply to Tokologo Local Municipality in the Free State.

The municipality has not paid Eskom over R300 million and is heavily indebted to the utility.

“Should Eskom proceed with the disconnection, bulk electricity supply to Boshof, Seretse, Dealesville, and Hertzogville will be interrupted daily from January 2025 for a set number of hours per day,” Eskom said.

The utility said that the municipality owes them R328,711,887 for the bulk supply of electricity, excluding the current account of a further R3,682,099, which became due and payable in November.

The last time Eskom received a payment from the municipality was in October 2021 for a mere R150,000.

“The municipality charges, collects, and receives money from its customers for the supply of electricity but fails to hand over the portion due to Eskom,” the utility said.

“This is at Eskom’s detriment and it is not sustainable. The municipality is responsible for discharging a constitutional obligation but decides to withhold payments to Eskom. The decision by Eskom to proceed with the process to disconnect electricity supply is a measure of last resort to prevent the debt from spiralling out of control.”

The utility added that it chose to proceed with the possible disconnection to protect the national interest and provide a sustainable supply of electricity to support economic growth in South Africa.

Eskom has called on all affected parties to submit written representations or submissions indicating why the utility should or should not proceed with the bulk disconnection.

The utility said that it was aware of the ramifications this would have on the community of Tokologo.

Eskom said it appreciates the hardships the community and the economy will suffer should it disconnect the municipality, but acknowledged that it had no other meaningful options available to stop the debt from growing and to collect for the current consumption.

IOL BUSINESS