'Our maintenance budget is spinning out of control due to loadshedding,' says Tshwane

The City of Tshwane says its maintenance budget is spinning out of control as a direct impact of loadshedding, “but Eskom refuses to take responsibility for this”.

MMC for finance Peter Sutton said the city has been open and honest about its liquidity challenges and is implementing various interventions to address them. “However, we must also acknowledge the adverse impact Eskom’s load-shedding has on the city’s liquidity position,” he said.

The city has acknowledged a R1.4bn arrears debt and said it intends to make regular payments to service the account.

“Our finance team has consistently been engaging Eskom on a payment plan. As a city, we understand our responsibility to pay our creditors and it is for this reason that we continuously communicate with Eskom with a proposed payment plan to bring the account up to date,” said Sutton.

Last year Eskom considered disconnecting the city to secure outstanding payment of its huge electricity bill.

Sutton said residents and businesses were battling economically due to load-shedding, which in turn contributed to low revenue for the city.

“In addition to these challenges, Eskom is proposing an 18% increase which will further cripple the financial position of the city as we will not be able to pass that increase onto end users until July 1,” he said.

“The City of Tshwane remains committed to paying what we owe and ensuring that we service our Eskom accounts. However, Eskom cannot ignore its adverse contribution to some of the city’s financial liquidity problems.”

TimesLIVE