Eskom says some municipalities owe it almost R80bn

JOHANNESBURG - Eskom said that some of the country's municipalities owed the power utility almost R80 billion.

Several court cases are underway as the entity aims to claw back the money.

Eskom executives mentioned this during an update on the status of the power system on Monday.

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Eskom is facing the mounting task of attempting to recover some R78 billion owed to it by municipalities in the country.

For Eskom executives, this is a growing concern, which, at the end of the day, has contributed to the power utility's application for a 40% tariff increase for 2025.

"The problem of municipality debt is a huge problem. This is one of those where each and every month, this amount continues to grow and grow,” said the chairperson of the Eskom board, Mteto Nyati.

Eskom Group Executive for Distribution Monde Bala said: "We’ve got various court processes against some of the municipalities, those are at different stages and aspects of litigation. We are hoping to close those."

In July, Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said this money was crucial for Eskom to reinvest towards infrastructure.