Eskom threatens to bring back rolling blackouts across multiple municipalities

South Africa has mostly left load shedding behind, but now Eskom has threatened to bring back rolling blackouts for fourteen municipalities falling behind on their electric bills. 702‘s Mandy Weiner spoke to Eskom’s acting group executive for distribution, Agnes Mlambo, about the impending “interruptions” headed for residents.

Load shedding is so two years ago

“We obviously have to look into the submissions that have been made and the severity of us cutting off and the impact to those customers that are the municipalities’ customers,” Mlambo said. “This is very important to emphasise that the cut-off is not a total switch-off. It will come in stages very similar to load-shedding.”

“…Very similar to load-shedding” is not a phrase any Saffas want to hear. Especially for the folks living in one of the 14 municipalities at risk of losing their power. Eskom reckons it is owed more than R110 billion — R62 billion of which stems from the municipalities in peril, and could jeopardise the energy provider as a whole.

Eskom began issuing notices to the 14 municipalities in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) on 5 March, stating that their accounts had not been settled for over 18 months. The municipalities failed to meet the conditions of the National Treasury municipal debt relief programme.

Read More: South Africa is moving away from coal – how mines and power stations could be used for green energy and farming

“Eskom encourages all stakeholders to support efforts to resolve the matter and invites written representations or proposals that may assist in achieving a sustainable solution. Eskom will determine and communicate the way forward once all representations submitted through the PAJA process have been fully considered,” it said.

Ekurhuleni is at risk of losing its power supply (via Moneyweb) due to a debt totalling R3.4 billion. Eskom has reportedly set a deadline of 14 April to pay up, or risk losing power in the area, which also supplies South Africa’s O.R Tambo International Airport.

Eskom has suggested the area could also switch to a prepaid account and only supply the energy it can afford. Another method would involve residents directly paying Eskom for the energy they consume, ditching the middleman altogether.

The municipalities currently facing power cuts are: