Eskom welcomes court ruling ‘affirming right to cut power’
Eskom has welcomed a ruling by the high court in Johannesburg which it believes affirms its right to cut power to those who don’t pay their bills.
Judgment was delivered on Tuesday.
The ruling came after Pioneer Foods took the power utility to court for disrupting electricity supply in the Walter Sisulu Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
Eskom cut power in the municipality due to its failure to pay its electricity bill.
Spokesperson to the state-owned entity Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the court ruling puts Eskom in a position to collect over R30 billion owed to it by municipalities.
"Pioneer Foods is a customer of the municipality, and as such had no legal right to bring the case against Eskom to court.
"This is a landmark judgment affirming the validity and lawfulness of Eskom’s rights, powers and entitlement to invoke section 21(5) of the Electricity Regulation Act of 2006 to interrupt the supply of electricity to a delinquent customer, in this case the Walter Sisulu Municipality in the Eastern Cape.”
READ THE JUDGMENT BELOW:
Pioneer Foods v Eskom Holdings by Jacaranda FM News on Scribd