Eskom Has Won a R1.3 Billion Judgement Against the Emfuleni Municipality

• The state-owned establishment Eskom has reportedly been ruled in favour in a case against Emfuleni municipality awarding Eskom R1.3 billion, according to reports
• Eskom confirmed that the R1.3 billion was a portion of a R1.9 billion total which the Emfuleni Municipality had gathered in 2019
• Eskom emphasised that the Emfuleni municipality are actively the prime municipality with a bad payment record with their debt sitting on R3.5 billion

Embattled power utility Eskom reportedly won a judgement against a local municipality, Emfuleni. According to reports, the judgement was for R1.3 billion. This was due as the municipality had not paid for bulk electricity services.

The power utility stated that the debt was part of a total of 1.9 billion which the Emfuleni Municipality had accumulated in 2019. Eskom revealed that the Emfuleni Municipality is at the top of their list of municipalities in Gauteng that have poor payment records and arrears of more than R3 billion.

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Currently, Emfuleni's debt is sitting at R3.5 billion. This number includes the municipality's recent bill of R385 million which is due on 2 September. Senior Manager for Customer Services in Eskom's Gauteng area Daphne Mokwena revealed that the judgement gave Eskom numerous options to recover from the debt owed to it.

According to News24, the utility stated that other municipalities in Gauteng have poor records of payment. Mokwena spoke about attaching and transferring Emfuleni's infrastructure in terms of electricity.

An earlier report by IOL stated that MMCs, PR and ward councillors joined members of Emfuleni's community to march to Eskom's head office. This follows news that the utility moved on to a programme that would disconnect the electricity.

Eskom electricity tariffs expected to hike, says CEO Andre de Ruyter

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In other news about Eskom, Briefly News reported that Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has warned South Africans an increase in electricity tariffs should be expected as the power utility battles to settle its high debt.

De Ruyter stated that while the state-owned entity says it is doing its best to cut down on costs internally to help save money, the country also needed to carry the brunt of Eskom's debt, according to EWN.

Some municipalities still owe Eskom millions

De Ruyter revealed that the money owed to Eskom by municipalities has increased and is now at an estimated R39 billion.

Source: Briefly News