Class suit in works to sue Eskom

ALMOST 300 local and national businesses have enlisted the assistance of a law firm to sue troubled power utility Eskom for loss of earnings due to rolling power cuts.

Eskom believed the matter may not see the light of day, but a local energy expert is confident a resolution can be reached.

Following two weeks of stage 4 load shedding, De Beer Attorneys called on businesses to sue the state entity. De Beer managing director Elaine Bergenthuin said Eskom as a state-owned entity had a legal obligation to provide electricity for citizens.

“Yet our country has recently suffered unprecedented power outages and rolling blackouts due to a seemingly never-ending energy crisis at the national energy supplier. We are preparing to take legal action in respect of the preventable losses suffered by businesses and individuals as a result of load shedding,” she said.

Bergenthuin said legally, if the business had a specific contract with Eskom regarding the provision of electricity, then Eskom’s negligent conduct which resulted in the power supply failure would form the basis of their claim.

“If the claim is based on delict, then we will again need to prove that Eskom’s conduct was wrongful and or negligent.”

Several businesses that joined the suit spoke to The Mercury on the basis of anonymity.

A Pinetown manufacturer said as a result of load shedding, the machinery in their processing plant was damaged.

“These machines cost over R500 000. We have also lost some of our larger customers and contracts, when jobs could not be completed on time,” he said.

The owner of a corporate gift company said they used laser-cutting machines and had suffered losses to the tune of R95 000. A Pretoria-based design studio had to fork out close to R100 000 for generators and power supplies.

Eskom said load shedding was done as a controlled measure across the country when the national grid was constrained to protect the power system from a total collapse.

The system operator was responsible for the security of the national power system.

“Should the system operator fail, the national power system could collapse, causing a national blackout. The financial impact to a specific customer alone is therefore not sufficient to justify the exclusion of individual customer installations from the emergency load reduction,” Eskom said.

Energy expert Ted Blom said he was in consultation with De Beer.

Blom said he was approached by the law firm and they were looking at refining the best strategy.

“It is quite tricky but I am confident that there can be a remedy of sorts. South Africans cannot have zero remedy when an SOE is grossly and negligently mismanaged and corrupt,” Blom said.

Bergenthuin said they were exploring various options with both legal and technical experts to find the best way to move forward with the action.

“We felt a sense of hopelessness and frustration in terms of what load shedding is doing to the economy and the people of our country which spurred us into action. Our frustration in terms of load shedding seems to be shared across the length and breadth of the country.”