City Power does not owe Eskom R1.08 billion, the subsidiary said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“We would like to place it on record that City Power, like any other entity, purchases electricity from Eskom which it on-sells to its customers across Johannesburg,” managing director Sicelo Xulu said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“City Power in turn pays Eskom on or before the due date which is a practice that is done in the normal course of doing business.”<\/p>\n
On Wednesday Eskom said municipalities owed it a total of R11.4bn at the end of last month, but only R2.7bn of that was in arrears.<\/p>\n
It was responding to questions on reports that municipalities around the country owed Eskom R10.8bn at the end of June this year.<\/p>\n
This total was given by Co-operative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan earlier this week in a written reply to a parliamentary question.<\/p>\n
In his response Gordhan said the biggest debtor was City Power, which owed R1.075bn.<\/p>\n
Xulu dismissed reports that City Power was in arrears.<\/p>\n
“These media articles misrepresented the facts and created a false perception that City Power was in arrears. The utility makes its monthly payments to Eskom on time every month,” said Xulu.<\/p>\n
In its dealings with Eskom and all of its suppliers, City Power was guided by corporate governance principles and accepted business practice, added Xulu.<\/p>\n
“We are engaging with the authorities in this matter to ensure they have correct records on this matter. We have always enjoyed a constructive and professional relationship with Eskom and all our suppliers and we look forward to continued meaningful relations with all our stakeholders.”<\/p>\n
Eskom owed R10.8 billion by municipalities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Eskom owed R3 billion by municipalities<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n