3 firms to pay Eskom directly, sidestep council

THREE companies in the Lekwa Local Municipality in Standerton, Mpumalanga, reached an agreement with electricity giant Eskom that they would pay their bill directly to the state power supplier for the next two months.

In terms of the agreement made an order of court, Cofco South Africa, Standerton Oil Mills and Astral Foods can for now sidestep the municipality.

However, at the insistence of counsel for the municipality, the money for their electricity bills would be paid into the trust account of the Lekwa council’s lawyers, who would in turn pay it directly to Eskom.

Asked by the court why such a long process had to be followed, Lekwa’s advocate said “for good accountability”.

Eight other companies, including Bridgestone SA, also obtained an agreement from Eskom that it would not, for now, disconnect the power supply to the Madibeng Municipality in Brits.

These agreements will remain in place pending the outcome of what is said to be a groundbreaking case before the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on May 2. The aim was to try to find a solution to Eskom interrupting the power supply to municipalities which are in arrears.

The main application of May 2 comes against the backdrop of Eskom’s ongoing struggle to retrieve outstanding debt from municipalities for the supply of electricity.

Consumers pay their monthly electricity usage bills to municipalities, which are, in turn, obliged to pay Eskom.

But several municipalities across the country have fallen in arrears, which has resulted in Eskom either threatening to disconnect their power supply or, in some cases, institute load shedding.

These businesses want to try to find solutions to the problem.

They will ask the court to set aside Eskom’s decision to interrupt the supply of power to these struggling municipalities.