The City of Tshwane has consistently provided Eskom with payment plans that keep getting rejected

25 January 2023

The City of Tshwane has taken note of the Eskom media statement regarding the amount that is owed to the power utility by the municipality. We acknowledge the RI billion arrear debt and we intend to make regular payments to service the account.

Our finance team has consistently been engaging Eskom on a payment plan. As a City, we understand our responsibility to pay our creditors and it is for this reason that we continuously communicate with Eskom with a proposed payment plan to bring the account up to date.

The City has been open and honest about its liquidity challenges, and we are currently implementing various interventions to address these financial challenges.

However, we must also acknowledge the adverse impact Eskom's load-shedding has on the City's liquidity position. Our maintenance budget is spinning out of control as a direct impact of load-shedding, but Eskom refuses to take responsibility for this.

Furthermore, our residents and business are battling economically due to load-shedding, which in turn contributes to low revenue for the City.

In addition to these challenges, Eskom is proposing an 18% increase which will further cripple the financial position of the City as we will not be able to pass that increase onto end users until 1 July 2023.

The City of Tshwane remains committed to paying what we owe and ensuring that we service our Eskom accounts. However, Eskom cannot ignore its adverse contribution to some of the City's financial liquidity problems.

Issued by Peter Sutton, MMC of Finance, 25 January 2023