City of uMhlathuze threatens to remove electricity meters of defaulting state entities

The City of uMhlathuze on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast threatened to remove meters on Tuesday if state entities were found to have reconnected their electricity supply after being disconnected last week.

Mayor Xolani Ngwezi said the municipality’s CFO and electricity team planned to visit entities which had not settled debts to inspect whether they had illegally reconnected their meters.

“If they have, we have no choice but to remove the meter,” he said.

Last week the city disconnected defaulting state entities, including Eskom, Mhlathuze Water and the departments of education, social development and transport after they failed to pay their electricity bills.

Eskom and Mhlathuze Water were reconnected after making payment, while the three departments remained without power due to non-payment.

The Sunday Times reported that the education department owed R4.5m and transport about R1.1m.

Ngwezi on Tuesday said the disconnection blitz was a means to recover debt owed by clients after failed consultation and negotiations.

“Some of these entities were owing the municipality as much as more than R45m,” he said.

“We have managed to recover close to R40m through this initiative in less than a week.”

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