Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has expressed concern regarding municipalities’ persistent failure to pay Eskom for electricity supply.
Monday morning during his weekly briefing on the implementation of the energy action plan, Ramokgopa stated that municipal debt had reached an astounding R64 billion.
Earlier this week, the power utility announced that Tshwane and Ekurhuleni owed a combined amount of R4.7 billion.
Ramokgopa stated that noncompliant municipalities were making it more difficult for the power utility to recover.
Treasury has outlined a number of requirements that municipalities must fulfill in order to have a portion of their debt cancelled, but Ramokgopa is pessimistic that they will be met.
The minister stated that municipalities’ debts to Eskom would continue to increase in actuality.
“This is undermining the liquidity of Eskom because Eskom has to recover the cost associated with generation and the reticulation and distribution of electricity.”