{"id":876218,"date":"2026-09-18T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=876218"},"modified":"2026-09-18T14:09:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:09:50","slug":"the-municipality-that-paid-just-r2780-of-a-r12-million-monthly-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/876218\/the-municipality-that-paid-just-r2780-of-a-r12-million-monthly-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"The municipality that paid just R2,780 of a R12 million monthly bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape paid just R2,780.02 towards an Eskom bill of almost R12.8 million in one month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is just one example of the scale of the municipality\u2019s financial problems and its failure to keep up with electricity payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figures were revealed after DA Eastern Cape MPL Heinrich M\u00fcller questioned Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Zolile Williams about the municipality\u2019s Eskom debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to documents, Inxuba Yethemba\u2019s Eskom debt had reached approximately R799.8 million by August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Eskom presentation dated 10 October 2025 shows that the municipality was billed R111.1 million across six billing cycles between April and September 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It paid only about R2 million during that period, meaning it settled less than 2% of the electricity billed. In one example, the municipality paid R2,780.02 toward a monthly Eskom bill of nearly R12.8 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The payments were also made despite an agreement intended to prevent the municipality\u2019s debt from increasing further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under an April 2025 cooperation agreement, Inxuba Yethemba was required to pay its current Eskom account in full while contributing at least R500,000 a month towards its outstanding arrears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The municipality\u2019s failure to meet those obligations meant it continued to accumulate new debt while struggling to address its existing liabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom told the National Council of Provinces in August 2026 that Inxuba Yethemba\u2019s overdue debt had reached approximately R943 million by the end of June 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom has also said that the municipality\u2019s proposed monthly payment was not enough to cover its current electricity account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The municipality had also not committed to implementing a Distribution Agency Agreement, which Eskom has promoted as a mechanism to improve electricity revenue collection and payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2026, Eskom moved Inxuba Yethemba onto a bulk prepayment arrangement. Under this system, the municipality can only receive electricity corresponding to the amount it has paid for in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of a bigger problem for Eskom <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eskom has also warned that it could proceed with a process under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) if the situation is not resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom has been pursuing similar interventions against other municipalities as municipal arrears continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The power utility said in 2026 that municipal debt had reached R111.6 billion, despite the National Treasury\u2019s municipal debt relief programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom has described municipal debt as a major threat to its financial sustainability. Its latest reporting said arrears had reached about R119 billion by June 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The utility\u2019s projections also showed the figure could rise to about R358 billion by the financial year 2031 if decisive intervention is not implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is significant because municipalities account for a substantial portion of Eskom\u2019s electricity sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom\u2019s 2025 integrated report said municipalities accounted for 42% of its sales and that poor payment levels significantly affected its revenue and financial sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00fcller said he would submit a formal question to the Eastern Cape Legislature seeking the municipality\u2019s latest Eskom balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would include a reconciliation of electricity revenue collected, payments made to Eskom, and details of its compliance with the debt-relief programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResidents who pay for electricity deserve to know what happened to that revenue and why the municipality repeatedly failed to honour its obligations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also questioned why Inxuba Yethemba had not committed to the Distribution Agency Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DA said it wants electricity revenue to be ring-fenced, with the current Eskom account prioritised and a repayment plan put in place for historic debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInxuba Yethemba cannot begin reducing its historic debt while it continues creating new debt,\u201d M\u00fcller said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A municipality in the Eastern Cape paid just R2,780.02 towards an Eskom bill of almost R12.8 million in one month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":876231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2100918016976318614","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2209107699909629","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18145304479572304","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[22560,18622,26574,853],"class_list":["post-876218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-democratic-alliance-da","tag-eastern-cape","tag-inxuba-yethemba-local-municipality","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876218"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876234,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876218\/revisions\/876234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}