Staff Reporter
Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality has approached the Free State High Court for relief following a dispute over the amount it owes Eskom for bulk electricity supplies.
This comes after a payment plan agreed to by the two parties seems to have fallen by the wayside after the municipality raised objections on the amount owed and other conditions.
The municipality is said to owe Eskom R5.4 billion.
As part of its revenue recovery plan, Eskom attached the municipality’s bank account on July 21 to help recover a portion of that amount.
At the time of the attachment, the municipality’s account had a balance of R220 million.
Eskom did this in execution of court orders granted in 2017 and 2019 respectively for R2.4 billion and R1 billion.
Four days later, on July 25, Eskom, at the request of the municipality, released R90 million to allow it to pay salaries and cover other running costs.
But Eskom claims Maluti-a-Phofung, in an apparent about-turn, took the power company to court on September 17 instead of working out an amicable solution to settle the debt.
And as if not enough, Eskom said in a statement on Saturday that the cash-strapped municipality has asked for a further release of funds.
“On Wednesday, 23 September 2020, Maluti-a-Phofung requested Eskom to release a further R20 million from the account,” said Eskom.
“When asked for details about the expenses and total amount required, the municipality did not deliver an answer.
“This is despite the fact that they have had access to all deposits and have not paid a cent towards their Eskom account.”
Eskom then offered to conditionally release R15 million from the account if the municipality committed to a payment agreement to settle the R5.4 billion debt.
The power utility also wanted the remainder of the funds in the account to be paid towards the judgment debt.
“The municipality, however, refused to enter into an agreement and approached the court again, even when the same issue is pending. Eskom repeated the offer, the municipality refused and the court reserved judgment,” said the power company.
Eskom has also been taken to court by Matjhabeng Local Municipality over a similar dispute.
Matjhabeng municipality is accusing Eskom of acting in bad faith by attaching its bank account at the beginning of September knowing full well that its claim of R3.4 billion for bulk electricity supply was in dispute.
And contrary to Eskom’s claim, the municipality claims the power utility actually owes it about R4.5 billion for distributing electricity in its jurisdiction.
Eskom has however shot down the claim as unfounded.
Judgment is yet to be delivered in that matter.
As at August 30, Eskom was owed about R31 billion by municipalities countrywide of which R13 billion is owed by Free State municipalities.