Eskom turns off lights

RESIDENTS in Khai-Ma Municipality in the Northern Cape would experience power cuts from today because of overdue debt, Eskom said this week.

Khai-Ma is one of the country’s municipalities that collectively owe Eskom billions of rand for bulk electricity supply accounts. It owes the state-owned utility more than R11 million. Khai-Ma includes the towns of Pofadder and Aggeneys on the Namibian border.

“Khai-Ma local municipality’s failure to honour its payment agreement has left Eskom with no other option but to interrupt bulk supply to the municipality,” Eskom said yesterday.

“As published in the notice on June19, 2018, the interruption will commence on July12, 2018, and will continue until an agreement has been reached.

“Khai-Ma is indebted to Eskom in the amount of R11 512 447 for the bulk supply of electricity, part of which has been outstanding and in escalation since May 2016.”

In May, Eskom told Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts that municipal electricity debt had swelled to R13.88 billion.

The power utility has vowed to recoup the money, signing debt repayment agreements with councils.

Municipalities that have defaulted on the binding agreements continue to experience power supply interruptions. – African News Agency (ANA)