PARLIAMENT, April (ANA) - An Eskom executive on Wednesday told MPs former chief executive officers have previously given her instructions not to cut power to municipalities defaulting on its debt to the power utility because it would not go down well with voters.
Ayanda Noah , group executive for customer services, was briefing Parliament's portfolio committee on public enterprises on the debt owed by municipalities which more than doubled from R6bln in 2016 to the current R13.5 billion.
"If you and I get electricity from Eskom and you consume and you don't pay, we give you 14 days and then we terminate you...," said Noah.
"When it comes to municipalities, we don't do that. What we have found that our credit control tool is ineffective because on some occasions...we've been instructed to stop interrupting [electricity supply]..."
Noah said she was instructed to not cut off electricity to defaulting municipalities ahead of the 2016 local government elections. Last year, she was again instructed that power cuts were out of the question because they were "not politically palatable".
- African News Agency (ANA)
