Eskom, CoJ at loggerheads over debt, plans to interrupt Jhb power supply

By Marleny Arnoldi

Power utility Eskom has announced plans to interrupt power supply to the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) at certain pre-determined times of day from next month, citing City Power’s failure to pay R4.9-billion in arrears owed to Eskom.

The CoJ, in response, says Eskom has overbilled City Power and asked Eskom to retract its public notice within five days and “engage in genuine negotiations to resolve the matters constructively”.

An initiative of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), called JoburgCAN, has also written to Eskom calling for an emergency meeting to halt the impending crisis and obtain the factrs of the debt situation between Eskom and the CoJ.

The State-owned national power utility says the power supply limitation is in line with the Provision of Promotion of Administrative Justice Act and that Eskom first explored all other avenues to accommodate the CoJ but can simply no longer afford