The task team appointed to provide a “technical assessment” on the billing issue between Eskom and City Power has been given an extension to try to unravel the ugly and much-publicised dispute.
This is amid City Power's deadline to settle their current account with Eskom as part of a deal brokered by electricity and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
Ramokgopa stepped in to try to resolve the impasse between the two after Eskom threatened to interrupt power supply to Johannesburg over the latter's R6.3bn debt — made up of an existing R4.9bn bill and R1.4bn for its October account — due on Wednesday.
The dispute between the two entities dates to 2019, but took an ugly turn in October 2023 when the city began defaulting on its electricity account. The metro claimed this was due to potential over-billing on Eskom's part and applied an automatic set-off against the latter's electricity account.
A failure to resolve this dispute saw Eskom approach the Johannesburg High Court, winning an order compelling the city to settle its outstanding bill, including its then-current R1.073bn bill. City Power confirmed it would appeal this ruling.
The minister, in a briefing held after a meeting with Eskom and Joburg officials, announced that a technical team would be appointed to look into the billing issues and provide feedback no later than November 25.
City Power also committed to settle its current account. Once this has been done, Eskom, will withdraw the notice of its intention to interrupt supply to the city.
TimesLIVE Premium reached out to Eskom, City Power and the minister's office for an update on whether the five-person team, headed by a technical expert from the South African National Energy Development Institute (Sanedi), met the Monday deadline.
“The team has asked an extension from the minister. The reason for the extension is the verification and downloading of the raw metering data for the past five years, which took some time considering that [the City of Joburg] or City Power has a number of meters with Eskom,” Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said on Tuesday.
“Considering the progress made and the daily reports, Eskom is confident that the technical team supported by an expert from Sanedi will finish the work within the extended time requested and the technical report will settle the alleged over-billing dispute.”
While it remains unclear how long the extension will be, Ramokgopa is expected to hold a briefing on Wednesday morning on another Eskom-related issue.
Mokwena reaffirmed City Power's commitment to honour its obligation to pay the R1.4bn “before the end of November 2024” as well as Eskom's promise to suspend its notice once payment has been received.
This was confirmed by City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena, who said: “It's due on the 27th and we'll pay it as we promised.”
He referred questions on the task team's deadline to Ramokgopa's office. The department did not respond to TimesLIVE Premium's questions or acknowledge receipt of queries sent.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.