GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - On Thursday 5 March, Eskom notified the public that it had initiated a public consultation process on its intention to interrupt electricity supply to the Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality (DBNLM) and 13 other municipalities in the country.
According to Eskom, these municipalities have been identified for this process because they have failed to settle their electricity accounts for at least the past 18 months, did not meet the conditions of the National Treasury’s municipal debt relief programme, or currently pose a significant financial risk to Eskom.
Having exhausted available avenues through the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, the power utility has now issued notices in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, providing affected parties an opportunity to submit proposals to resolve the matter before any further action is taken.
“The way forward will be determined and communicated once all submissions received through the consultation process have been considered,” they said.
While acknowledging the potential impact on communities, Eskom said it has little choice but to initiate the process unless municipalities urgently regularise their accounts.
“Municipalities collect revenue from electricity customers, and failure to remit these funds undermines Eskom’s financial viability and affects electricity service delivery,” it said.
“If municipalities fail to take corrective action, Eskom may implement credit control measures, including interrupting electricity supply at predetermined times as permitted by law.
Should payment defaults persist, the utility may further limit electricity supply to levels aligned with payments received.”
In the DBNLM, this potential load reduction will only affect Willowmore, Steytlerville and Jansenville.
Eskom can implement load reduction only in Willowmore, Steytlerville, where the municipality has its own separate power lines.
In Graaff-Reinet and Aberdeen, load reduction cannot be implemented because the existing power lines also supply Eskom’s own distribution areas.
The DBNLM was admitted to the National Treasury’s municipal debt relief programme on 19 December 2023. In terms of this programme, historic Eskom debt is ring-fenced and related interest suppressed to provide municipalities with the fiscal capacity to meet current obligations.
In addition, municipal debt can be written off by Eskom after three years, provided that municipalities pay their current accounts.
According to Eskom, however, the DBNLM has persistently failed to meet this requirement - the municipality’s current account for August 2025, for example, amounted to R17m, of which only R2m was paid to Eskom.
As a result, instead of achieving the intended outcome, the municipality’s Eskom debt has increased by a staggering R511 696 643.21 since its admission into the programme.
Councillor Ewald Loock had already warned about the risk of load reduction last year when Willowmore’s electricity supply was interrupted without warning from 15:00 until 22:00 on 25 September.
According to him, the incident raised eyebrows because the power line supplying Willowmore was active at the time, but the Eskom-controlled switch at the distribution point outside town had been switched off.
“Without speculating, I would like to remind residents of the ‘load reduction’ concept,” Loock said. At that stage the DBNLM owed Eskom about R820m.
This debt continued to escalate and amounts to nearly a billion rand - R915 406 749.06 - at present.
The DBNLM responded to Eskom’s notice on Friday 6 March stating that the municipality is currently engaged in legal proceedings against Eskom concerning a range of issues, including but not limited to the arrears, tariff discrepancies, and the historical debt that the municipality inherited upon the amalgamation in 2016.
“These actions are being actively pursued by the municipality, and our legal team is currently preparing an urgent application to court for the appropriate relief,” stated DBNLM Mayor Willem Safers.
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