DA Submits PAIA application to Eskom over municipal electricity arrears

In reply to a DA Parliamentary question, the Minister of Energy, Dipuo Peters, has revealed that 84 municipalities are in arrears to Eskom to the value of R533 million. 

A further 77 government departments are in arrears to the tune of R10.3 million. 

But we do not know which municipalities and government departments are in arrears because the Minister of Energy refuses to tell us.

Instead of disclosing the full details of the debts owed to Eskom by these municipalities, the Minister used the excuse of ‘customer confidentiality' and refused to stipulate exactly which municipalities and departments are in arrears and for what period these payments have been overdue. 

These are all public entities so it follows that, in a constitutional democracy, the public is entitled to know if they are in arrears. ‘Customer confidentiality' should never trump transparency and the public's right to hold government to account. 

I will therefore today be submitting an application to Eskom under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to gain access to the information that the Minister has chosen not to reveal.

Municipalities are tasked with ensuring that basic services are delivered, and use public money to do so. The South African people therefore have a right to know the full details if municipalities are not functioning effectively. 

We need to know whether this problem is confined to a few municipalities, or whether the problem is broader than that. Given the almost perpetual threat of municipal disconnections, it appears that there is not an isolated problem, but a far broader structural issue. For instance, municipalities are reportedly already receiving disconnection notices from Eskom, even though this would mean that paying consumers would be indiscriminately punished and economic breakdown is likely to follow. 

Eskom is under severe financial strain. Their electricity distribution supply grid infrastructure maintenance backlog is currently at R35 billion and growing at an amount of R2.6 billion annually. Municipalities' inability to pay the half-billion Rand owed to Eskom therefore inhibits Eskom's ability to deliver reliable electricity services. 

Electricity is a critical input to small business, the primary employer in South Africa. As such, it is also one of the primary tools with which government can spur entrepreneurship and promote job creation. We therefore simply cannot afford for municipalities' non-payment of their electricity bills to be swept under the carpet.  

For the sake of job creation and poverty alleviation, the DA will continue to do everything in its power to ensure reliable electricity supply for all South Africans.

Statement issued by Jacques Smalle MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Energy, March 22 2012

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter