Residents should not bear the brunt of Eskom/City Power fight over arrears: OUTA

The Weekend View

Power utility Eskom THIS WEEK announced unprecedented plans to interrupt power supply to the City of Johannesburg at certain pre-determined times of the day from next month, citing City Power's failure to pay R4.9-billion in arrears. If Eskom goes ahead with it's plans, that will leave hundreds of thousands of households in South Africa's largest city in the dark even when many of them are fully paid up customers with City Power or have pre-paid meters. When metros or municipalities fail to pay Eskom on time or at all, it forces Eskom to borrow additional money at premiums to fund operational costs, particularly as the country's municipal debt arrears to Eskom stands at R90-billion. The power utility is expected to announce a decision on the intended electricity interruptions in the middle of December. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse - OUTA - plans to submit written representations on the matter. Bongiwe Zwane spoke to OUTA Executive Director, Advocate Stephanie Fick