Eskom executive says power cuts in municipalities which owe them money will protect South Africa

Eskom Acting Group Executive for Distribution Agnes Mlambo has defended the utility’s threats to cut power to municipalities over rising arrear debt.

The power utility recently announced that it would begin interrupting electricity supply to the City of Johannesburg if it continued to default on its payments.

Eskom has given Johannesburg and City Power until 8 July 2026 to either settle its R5.2 billion debt or enter into a Distribution Agency Agreement (DAA) with Eskom.

This echoes earlier threats made by Eskom against 14 other municipalities in March 2026 over their respective unpaid municipal debts.

These threats have received widespread criticism from organisations such as AfriForum, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA).

“Residents and businesses have largely continued paying their electricity bills, yet the city has failed to pass on those funds to Eskom,” said OUTA executive manager Julius Kleynhans.

“Residents are already paying for Eskom’s electricity through their municipal bills. If the city fails to pay Eskom, then Eskom should focus on intercepting the revenue stream instead of punishing paying customers.”

Mlambo responded to these criticisms in an interview with 702, in which she said the proposed power cuts were not a punishment but rather a way to protect residents.

She stressed the importance of municipalities paying Eskom what they are owed to ensure the continued supply of electricity to the country.

She also said the power utility could not afford to allow the municipal debt pool to grow any larger, as this could compromise the stability of the country’s electricity grid.

Eskom’s outstanding municipal debt pool had grown to over R111 billion by early May, with estimates that it could reach over R300 billion by 2031 if left unchecked.

“That would really negatively affect the country,” Mlambo explained. “It is important that we maintain the payments that are due to Eskom.”

Mlambo said Eskom was in talks with the City of Johannesburg to resolve the outstanding debt, a point corroborated by Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero during his State of the City address on 20 May 2026.

Rising debt a fault of the city, not residents

The prevailing criticism of Eskom’s intention to interrupt power supply to owing municipalities has been that it will negatively impact ordinary taxpaying residents more than anything.

AfriForum and SALGA previously warned that cutting power to these areas threatened to destabilise them and would only sow more animosity amongst residents towards Eskom and the municipalities.

Similarly, OUTA said the onus for the rising arrear debt should fall squarely on the shoulders of municipal governments and not on the residents.

In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Kleynhans conceded that while some Johannesburg residents had not paid their electricity bills, he said this was a symptom of deeper city issues.

“The city’s billing has been a crisis, so they haven’t billed accurately,” Kleynhans said. “Where there are defaulters, they haven’t acted swiftly.”

“There’s a lack of political will to act swiftly against the residents that are defaulting, but also the administration has not been accurate.”

Kleynhans pointed to other issues, such as unfunded budgeting and salary increases for the city’s 26,000 staff complement, as major reasons why it is unable to pay its debts.

He also said the strongest short-term solution to address the city’s debt to Eskom might be to enter into a DAA with the power utility.

Through this, Eskom would be appointed as an agent and would directly manage electricity distribution and maintenance, as well as revenue collection.

Eskom has offered this as a solution to other non-paying municipalities in the past, with three already active and a further nine in the process of implementation.

AfriForum and SALGA have criticised the implementation of DAAs across municipalities, however, describing them as unlawful in terms of the Electricity Regulation Act.

AfriForum has applied to the North Gauteng High Court to have Eskom’s DAA with the Merafong Local Municipality declared invalid and set aside.

If their request is granted, it could significantly hinder the future implementation of DAAs between Eskom and other non-paying municipalities.