POWER PROBLEMS

I must correct Maureen Hendrikse, (YOU 22 February) who wrote about municipalities that don’t pay Eskom fully. The municipalities can’t fulfil their obligations to Eskom because the public, government departments and embassies do not pay for services rendered.

According to a News24 report from November 2021, government departments alone owed the City of Tshwane R1,2 billion and embassies owed R12 million.

Yes, this is old news, but I doubt that the situation has changed much.

So to blame the municipalities for not paying Eskom is totally out of line. If residents and other institutions would pay their dues the municipalities could pay Eskom.

NICK, PRETORIA

Eskom is without doubt fast gaining the reputation of being unpredictable and unreliable with their electricity power cuts and outrages.

But truth be told we contribute to their woes and we are part of the problem. In townships we build backyard rooms especially in RDP houses and never upgrade the meter boxes, which get strained by being overloaded and overpowered by extra connections mostly illegal to these extra rooms.

The worst of them all is cable theft for cash at scrapyards. For some, cable-stealing has become a profession.

Then we have illegal power connections especially among squatter camp dwellers. Many have never paid a cent for electricity as they steal it from other houses or straight from electric poles.

Unless we resolve these problems the loadshedding crisis is here to stay. We have ourselves to blame not solely the utility giant.

MCDIVETT KHUMBULANI TSHEHLA, KWAMHLANGA