AfrElec: South Africa’s power utility Eskom takes City Power to court over $54mn debt

South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom has applied to the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg for a declaratory order to force the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) metropolitan municipality to pay its debt of ZAR1bn ($54mn).

The debt is attributed to another state-owned utility, City Power, wholly owned by the CoJ municipality. City Power purchases electricity bulk from Eskom, distributes and sells it to residents with a massive 60% mark-up. Within the municipality, the company is also tasked with maintaining and installing electrical infrastructure.

According to Eskom, the municipal electricity distributor started to default on its payments in October 2023. City Power declared a dispute over potential overbilling on bulk purchase invoices dating back to 2021, SABC News reported.

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