Eishkom pulling the plug on Municipalities

[JerryMungo]

So tonights news announced that the muni which Welkom falls under owes Eishkom R145 million dating back to 2002 and that Eishkom is about to pull the plug on them.

How is it possible that Eishkom, which is a state owned entity (managed by the ANC) can be owed R145 million by a municipality run by the ANC? So they can't manage their funds and I'm willing to bet that the taxpayer will bail them out.

In other news, last week we heard that the SABC (state owned/public funded) bailed ASA out with a nice advertising deal, this week we hear that ASA is bankrupt. Another tactic to siphon tax rands? In the interview on SABC, whoever was being interviewed said that not so long ago, ASA had a budget worth millions per annum. He made it sound like things were rosy lol... probably didn't intend to make it sound like they didn't have a clue about managing it.

It'll eventually reach critical mass and people are going to realise there's no more money in a government job one day. Perhaps that will signal the start of the end of this rotten regime.

 

[Recruitsmiths]

Welkom councilors sunk the funds owed to Eishkom?

 

[TelkomUseless]

It's nice to fund them ... all these price hikes are to fund the non paying people...

 

[JerryMungo]

Klerksdorp has been given a reprieve...
http://business.iafrica.com/news/847963.html

Eskom will not cut off power to the Matlosana (Klerksdorp) municipality in North West, the municipality said on Wednesday.

"Yes, there was an outcome to the talks. An agreement was reached with Eskom," said municipal spokeswoman Ntswaki Makgetha.

"The public should not stress. There won't be any switching off of electricity tomorrow [Thursday]."

Mayor Michael Khauoe (SUBS: CORR) said the municipality had made a payment on its electricity bill.

"We have honoured the first part of the agreement by paying R47 million this morning," he said.

"We will be paying the balance of the amount at the end of this month."
...

Khauoe said the municipality would give priority to the Eskom account in future.

Earlier, AfriForum said it would bring an application in the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday to compel the municipality to honour its commitments to Eskom and to maintain electricity supply in the municipality.

AfriForum lawyer Willie Spies said the court action would go ahead at 4pm despite the "alleged settlement".

"We will still be in court. We now want the court to endorse this alleged agreement that has been reached, so there is some officiality (sic) in it," he said.

"I am a bit concerned. What if there is no payment, then what?"

Spies said the initial notice of the power cut was not fair to taxpayers who had paid their bills on time. It was not the residents' fault that the municipality had failed to pay its account, he said.

Khauoe said the municipality had no dealings with AfriForum and that an agreement was reached with Eskom alone.

"We have not spoken to AfriForum. We have no business with them."
...
Meanwhile, power in another municipality is due to be cut in April, said Eskom.

On February 26, Eskom issued the Matjhabeng local municipality in the Free State with a notice of disconnection.

It said electricity supply to the municipality would be disconnected on April 10 if it did not settle its outstanding account by March 31.

Matjhabeng, which includes the town of Welkom, is in arrears of R145 million.

Eskom said it had become increasingly concerned about the rapid growth in municipal arrears debt, which stood at R1.3 billion in February.

Eskom urged all defaulting municipalities to pay for the electricity they used.

"Disconnection is a last resort, when payment agreements have not been honoured," it said.

Eskom said it complied with the provisions of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, which required it to publish notices and give affected customers a chance to make submissions before it resorted to disconnecting supply.

Approximately 40 percent of Eskom's total sales go to municipalities, which Eskom supplies in bulk, while they in turn supply electricity to households and businesses in their areas of supply.

So they had the money but decided not to pay? Seems we need to deal with Eishkom direct in future.

 

[Albereth]

Klerksdorp has been given a reprieve...
http://business.iafrica.com/news/847963.html


So they had the money but decided not to pay?

You can't steal it if you spend it.

 

[Sinbad]

This is just crazy.
What can we as consumers who pay our municipality do if Eskom cuts THEM off?

Is there any way to switch from ****ty power to become a direct Eksdom customer?

 

[Ykv]

I went to one of our municipalities ward meetings where exactly that question was asked of the Chief Financial Officer. He just answered that they cannot pay Eskom straight away as the money is used to fund the roll-out of services in previously disadvantaged areas.

With the ridiculous increases he also just said that since so many people don't pay they have to make up the shortfall from those that do.

 

[Sinbad]

I went to one of our municipalities ward meetings where exactly that question was asked of the Chief Financial Officer. He just answered that they cannot pay Eskom straight away as the money is used to fund the roll-out of services in previously disadvantaged areas.

With the ridiculous increases he also just said that since so many people don't pay they have to make up the shortfall from those that do.

Amazingly honest. We all KNOW this is happening... Complete incompetence.

Joburg is writing off R12bn of revenue as "unlikely to materialise" this year.