Central SA
Free State municipality pays Eskom R1,1m in damages─── LUCKY NKUYANE 14:45 Mon, 04 Jul 2022
A Free State municipality has paid R1,1 million to the ailing power utility Eskom following damages to Eskom's network infrastructure.
According to Eskom spokesperson, Stefanie Jansen van Rensburg, Ngwathe Municipality, that includes Parys and Vredefort, agreed that it was liable for the damage to Eskom's infrastructure. This follows numerous warnings to the municipality about it overloading the system. She says on Friday, the municipality’s electrical network tripped and damaged Eskom’s equipment, after which the municipality had to reimburse Eskom. She says the aforementioned towns were affected since Friday and had no power for the entire weekend.
Jansen van Rensburg says the municipality paid on Monday morning and the payment will be allocated to repairs required to restore supply to Parys and Vredefort. The municipality is yet to comment on OFM News' inquiry.
Since 2018, Eskom has warned Ngwathe that their continued exceedance of their Notified Maximum Demand (NMD) - the contracted amount of electricity supplied by Eskom to the municipality – will eventually result in damage to the Eskom network and that the municipality needs to apply for an upgrade in their NMD. In August 2021 and in April 2022, Eskom informed the municipality that any damage to the Eskom network that is caused by the municipality’s negligence will be at the municipality’s cost. The Municipality agreed to this condition and, although they were well informed and aware of the risks, they did not take the necessary precautions or made sufficient efforts to upgrade their NMD,” Jansen van Rensburg says.
Repairs to the Eskom equipment are expected to commence soon. Jansen van Rensburg adds that based on the assessments of the damage, supply to Ngwathe should be restored by midnight tonight and today’s repairs will focus on the hot connections and will only be temporary to assist communities.
Another outage will be scheduled to repair the transformer bushings that were also damaged during the overloading incident. “Supply to Ngwathe will be restored to the capacity as per the contracted NMD. Risks of overloading and consequent damage remain, and it is imperative that the municipality invests in upgrading its supply,” she further adds.
