The Johannesburg High Court has ordered the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and City Power (CP) to pay R1.073 billion on an unpaid electricity account with Eskom.
The decision comes after Eskom took the city and its electricity utility to court over an outstanding bill totalling R3.4 billion.
Eskom said it had no choice but to apply to the court for a declaratory order forcing City Power to pay what it owes for supplied electricity.
In an affidavit submitted to the court in May 2024, Eskom revenue management manager Susan Smith explained that City Power had been rolling its electricity debt since October 2023.
“All that Eskom is asking is for the city to make good on its promises to get its affairs in order and to pay what it admits owing Eskom instead of selectively paying accounts as and when it pleases,” said Smith.
“Despite Eskom’s best efforts to accommodate the CoJ [City of Johannesburg], the matter has reached a point where Eskom can no longer afford to accommodate the CoJ without harming its own business.”
“Eskom is not a bank and does not have the financial means to bankroll the CoJ electricity debt of more than R1 billion,” she added.
The R1.073 billion consists of four invoices from late 2024 that Eskom submitted to the court in May 2024.
One of the bills included three charges — R105 million, R184 million, and R197 million — for supplied location and consumption fees.
Other invoices for 29 March, 30 March, and 31 March, had outstanding amounts of R336 million, R19.6 million, and R57 million, respectively. These amounts did not include interest and certain additional charges.
Over-billing counterclaim
After Eskom announced its legal action, City Power hit back with a counterclaim against the utility — curiously for the exact same R3.4 billion Eskom claims is outstanding — alleging potential over-billing dating back to 2021.
“Eskom has admitted in some cases that there have been potential billing inaccuracies and has so far refunded City Power at least R483 million over the recent years,” City Power said in May 2024.
The utility said its assessments showed that Eskom owed the city a lot more.
“Following multiple discussions regarding queries that have been lodged in connection with gross inaccurate billing on bulk purchase invoices, Eskom has opted to ignore those issues and rushed to the courts,” City Power said.
“As a matter of process, the City will be opposing the court application that Eskom filed, because it has no basis in facts and law.”
City Power also applied an automatic set-off against Eskom’s electricity account.
Eskom denied the allegations and said it would prove its position through an arbitration process.
On 4 June 2024, the High Court ruled against City Power and dismissed its counterclaim with costs, consequently dismissing the automatic set-off claim.
Eskom said it has written a letter to COJ/CP demanding payment of the full amount of R3.4 billion by 21 June 2024.
“We hope they will respect the court decision and settle all outstanding debts to Eskom,” the power utility stated.