Municipalities default on Eskom bills despite intervention
17 January 2017
Cape Town – Despite a number of government interventions in 2016, municipalities owing money to Eskom still defaulted on electricity bills, the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) department said on Tuesday.
After Cogta brokered agreements with Eskom, plans were put in place to get the municipalities to repay their debt, the department said in a statement.
Cogta held talks with all the affected municipalities between February and April last year and payment agreements were reached. Despite this, the municipalities continued to default.
On Sunday Eskom suspended power to five municipalities which, along with three others, owed the power utility R10.2bn.