Bad news for people who live in Johannesburg
Eskom has announced that the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality has once again failed to meet its electricity payment obligations and faces rolling blackouts.
It encouraged members of the public and affected stakeholders to make use of a window to make representations to Eskom under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA).
The state-owned power utility said the PAJA process had not been stopped. However, it recognised that there was some confusion on the matter and extended the submission deadline to 17 July 2026.
On 19 May 2026, Eskom issued a formal notice of intent to reduce, interrupt, or terminate Johannesburg’s electricity supply due to arrears debt of R5.2 billion.
Electricity and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa intervened and coordinated a meeting between the power utility and the metro.
The meeting resulted in an agreement that Eskom not implement the power cuts, with a “partnership” between the entities to ensure the city keeps its payments up to date.
However, Eskom explained that the agreement was conditional on City Power settling its account. It also said that since Ramokgopa’s announcement, the public had ceased making submissions to Eskom.
“When Eskom issued the PAJA notice, City Power owed Eskom R5,255,421,994.16, which excluded the current account of R1,582,093,993.32 that was due on 5 June 2026,” it said.
“Eskom can confirm that the City of Johannesburg/City Power has continued to make payments towards the electricity account.”
So far, R1.2 billion has been paid towards Johannesburg’s electricity account since the PAJA notice was issued.
The additional R1.6 billion, which became payable on 5 June 2026, has not been settled. Therefore, the city’s overdue current account is now R2,702,336,196.37.
As of 11 June 2026, City Power owed Eskom R5,281,414,085.38, which included the overdue current account and R2,579,077,889.00 from a settlement arrangement that was made an order of the court.
“Eskom continues to comply with the settlement agreement, which was made an order of the High Court of South Africa on 7 November 2025,” the utility stated.
“Therefore, Eskom will not sign another payment arrangement as the current arrangement remains enforceable.”
Eskom said City Power failed to meet its payment obligations under the agreement. As a result, it would proceed with the PAJA process.
“In the interest of ensuring a fair administrative process, Eskom has extended the deadline for the notice by 30 days, given that the Minister’s intervention occurred within the first week of the PAJA process.”
Eskom said it would consider all submissions received and communicate the outcome of the process on 24 July 2026.
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