Don’t buy from Eskom Mabuza

MPUMALANGA premier David Mabuza has warned the province’s municipalities to stop buying electricity from Eskom because it is costing them too much.

Speaking to the province’s 20 mayors and speakers, Mabuza this week said municipalities owe Eskom a lot of money and must consider snubbing the power utility.

Some municipalities buy electricity in bulk from Eskom and sell it to residents, but most buy on credit. However, many municipalities fail to collect their debt.

Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said the entity was owed R773-million by seven municipalities in Mpumalanga, less than the R1.3billion owed by February this year.

“All of us here are owing Eskom, we’re paying penalties year-in and year-out,” Mabuza said. “At one stage I proposed that municipalities should pull out of this account because they are operating at a loss. Why do you continue selling something that you are not making any profit from?”

Phasiwe said: “The truth is that Mpumalanga is one of the bad payers along with Free State and North West. When it comes to the premier’s statement, we’re not sure if that’s suitable because municipalities have got to find ways to deliver electricity.”

Phasiwe said municipalities were paying at a very slow rate and the bill was going to increase. He said Eskom’s advice to municipalities was that they must try to install prepaid meters.

“When we met with the premier, he suggested that we take over the debt collection and take our cut and give municipalities [the rest], citing that some municipalities are very small and not viable. We agreed with that, but the truth is [that] we have to engage the National Treasury and the Cooperative Governance Department on this.

“However, as Eskom, in areas we service we’re installing prepaid meters, and we believe this will work better for municipalities. We started in Sandton and Soweto so municipalities can make it easy to get money. But, if they are failing to instal such, we’re open to help as Eskom.”