A major South African city can be dumped into darkness

Eskom has issued a public notice warning the City of Ekurhuleni about extended power cuts due to unpaid electricity bills.

On Saturday, 15 February 2025, Eskom published a notice saying the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality owes it R2.307 billion.

This debt excludes the current account of a further R1.5 billion, which will become due and payable on 7 March 2025.

“Despite all the avenues we explored and efforts to accommodate Ekurhuleni, we can no longer afford to accommodate the City of Ekurhuleni,” Eskom said.

The power utility added that leaving the issue would cause further financial strain and harm to its own business.

It said Ekurhuleni is supposed to cooperate and assist Eskom with fulfilling its mandate of ensuring that citizens have access to affordable electricity.

“Ekurhuleni has breached these obligations by paying the bulk account after the due dates for the electricity it supplies, making it impossible for Eskom to fulfil its mandate,” it said.

“Eskom cannot operate and remain financially viable without timeous payment from the City of Ekurhuleni.”

Eskom added that when entities like the City of Ekurhuleni fail to pay it, it may force it to borrow considerable premiums to fund operational costs.

“Operational costs should be funded by revenue generated from electricity sales and not by borrowings,” Eskom said.

“The failure to pay by the City of Ekurhuleni is contributing to the growing municipal debt which currently exceeds R90 billion.”

Eskom said its financial sustainability and supplying electricity at affordable prices requires an improved balance sheet by increasing revenue and reducing expenses.

“Eskom has already started reducing its expenditures. Revenue can only be increased by collecting electricity debts and increasing electricity tariffs.”

Due to the City of Ekurhuleni’s rising debt, Eskom notified all residents that their rights were likely to be materially and adversely affected.

This is because Eskom intended to reduce, interrupt, and potentially terminate the electricity supply to specific areas within the city from 27 March 2025.

“The decision is a measure of last resort to prevent Ekurhuleni’s debt from spiralling out of control,” Eskom said.

“It is not sustainable for Eskom to continue supplying a customer with no intention nor the prospect of making payments to Eskom.”

The DA’s Ekurhuleni caucus leader, Brandon Pretorius, slates the city

The DA’s Ekurhuleni caucus leader, Brandon Pretorius, said residents are punished for the city’s poor leadership.

“Residents can be punished with rolling blackouts due to the coalition’s inability to exercise financial discipline and failure to pay the city’s Eskom account,” he said.

He said instead of ensuring its outstanding accounts are paid up, the city’s leadership chose to pay excessive bonuses to the City Manager and Head of Departments.

“Residents have to bear witness to the full-scale collapse engulfing the City of Ekurhuleni,” Pretorius said.

“They are subjected to the misery of service delivery failures daily, yet the leadership felt it prudent to give more money to highly paid, non-performing officials,” he said.

The City of Ekurhuleni is in a desperate situation, and swift intervention is required to arrest its problems.

“I have reached out to the mayor and the MMC for finance, requesting an audience with them so as to find a solution to this matter urgently,” he said.

He added that the DA is committed to ensuring that the lights remain on and that residents are not punished for the failure of the leadership’s incompetence.

The City of Ekurhuleni responds

The City of Ekurhuleni is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng, a large suburban region east of Johannesburg.

It is one of the five districts of Gauteng and one of the eight metropolitan municipalities of South Africa.

The seat of Ekurhuleni is Germiston, and it is home to South Africa’s busiest airport OR Tambo International Airport.

It is, therefore, one of the most important cities in South Africa and forms part of the country’s economic hub.

The City of Ekurhuleni responded to the Eskom notice, saying that its power would not be disconnected.

It said that Eskom had not given the municipality formal notice of disconnections. It insisted it has communicated with the power utility over its bills since the start of the year.

“Although we have established effective communication channels with Eskom, they were not utilised in this instance,” it said.

“The city will initiate contact with Eskom to resolve this matter and ensure that residents continue to receive uninterrupted essential services.”

It added that it is actively servicing its current electricity bill and will work expeditiously to pay off the disputed portion that will soon be due.

The City of Ekurhuleni urged residents to keep their eyes on city communication channels for updates.