Eskom is threatening to cut off electricity to Midrand, Joburg CBD, Mnandi, Cresta and other areas as its R4.9-billion debt row with City of Johannesburg explodes. Johannesburg is also leading the charge with Gauteng metros against Eskom’s tariff hike proposal of 36.15% in 2025.
Eskom’s unprecedented threat to cut power supply to South Africa’s largest city would leave the Johannesburg CBD and Midrand along with other nodes in the dark. The power utility has threatened the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) with power cuts from 14 December unless the city ponies up on its billing debt of R4.9 billion.The full notice served by Eskom on the City shows that the power stations where the majority of the R4.9 billion billing debt has been racked up are:
- Fordsburg substation: Supplying Johannesburg CBD, Fordsburg, Auckland Park, Mayfair and surrounding areas;
- Beyers substation: Supplying Fairlands, Cresta and surrounding areas;
- Crowthorne substation: Supplying Crowthorne, Carlswald, parts of Mnandi and surrounding areas; and
- Allandale substation: Supplying Midrand.
The CoJ has denounced Eskom’s threat. “The City strongly condemns this move as unjust, counterproductive, and potentially harmful to the residents and businesses of Johannesburg.”
The utility will take representations until 8 December 2024.
While Cape Town is quickly catching up, Johannesburg remains the biggest contributor to South Africa’s GDP, and the cuts would harm growth prospects especially as they would be executed in the Christmas boom shopping period.
The CoJ says that it has long disputed R3.4-billion of the total claim by Eskom. “There are ongoing disputes regarding overbilling of R3.4-billion, with a pending appeal and monthly declarations since July 2024. The City has repeatedly raised concerns about this continued overbilling, which Eskom has failed to address, placing additional strain on the City’s resources.”The metro is in deficit and is loan-dependent as revenues tumble because of financial strain, semi-gration by wealthy residents and because electricity revenues (which make up almost one-third of its budget) were strained by rolling blackouts and the consequent migration to solar power.
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