Eskom refused to budge on the issue of installing pre-paid meters in Soweto, a direct customer that owes the utility about R4bn in debt.
Eskom has come under fire after the utility cut electricity to Soweto for more than 10 hours on Friday.
“The decision to leave Soweto residents without electricity for this prolonged period of time is insensitive, inhumane and smacks of unbridled arrogance,” MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Matshidiso Mfikoe said in a statement on Saturday.
Many believed the shutdown was a result of a protest action that took place in Orlando West last Thursday.
“They feel that Soweto was being punished by Eskom because of the stance they had taken against the installation of pre-paid meters, but also the fact that Soweto is owing us [Eskom] R4bn,” Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told Fin24.
“But we would like to place it on record that we did not switch off electricity deliberately in Soweto,” he said. “What happened there was a result of two unrelated incidents.
“On Friday, everyone across the country was experiencing stage 1 load shedding. During that time, we also had people [in Soweto] who had overloaded the system [with illegal electricity connections].”
Phasiwe, speaking at the African Utility Week in Cape Town, said that some of the transformers tripped as a result of that overload.
“It has nothing to do with anyone trying to punish the people of Soweto because of unpayment [sic] or for defying the installation of pre-paid metering.”
Illegal connections cost Eskom about R2bn per year in lost revenue, he said.
“Everyone [in the country] needs to move to pre-paid metering,” he said. “Whether you are an Eskom or municipal customer.
“In Soweto alone, we have installed pre-paid meters since 2007,” he said.
Pre-paid metering in Soweto
Asked if metering would work, considering the huge debt that Soweto owes Eskom, Phasiwe said: “We are trying to implement this strategy of implementing the pre-paid metering as a way of curbing the debt from going up. Once we install the meter, you as a customer must also come to us and say … how you are going to pay the money that you owe us.”
In 2003, Eskom wrote off about R1.6bn in debt from Soweto residents. “[That] was because there was confusion because at the time, most of the customers were moving from the City of Johannesburg to Eskom and some people complained about their bills being estimated and their reading not being taken. In an effort to start from a clean slate we decided to write off the debt.
“Since then, up until now, that [new] debt has now increased … to about R4bn. [Eskom] has met with the government and none of us actually is talking about writing off any debt at this stage,” he said.
However, there has been a call from the ANC to hand Soweto back to the City of Johannesburg.
ANC regional spokesperson Jolidee Matongo said on Monday that it called on “Eskom to put its house in order and if it fails, we will have no option but to demand that it stop distributing power directly to residents. It will have to supply the City of Joburg and it will in turn distribute to the people,” according to TimesLive.
There are about 5 000 households in Orlando West and, according to Stats SA, 99% of them are connected to electricity, a connection rate that is 10% higher than in the rest of Gauteng.
Fin24
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