Business opposes ELM lawfare on overturned power tariffs
Organised business is determined to oppose expensive and short-sighted lawfare by cash-strapped ELM to overturn an earlier High Court order reversing predatory 21% power tariff increases and forcing the municipality to pay back or credit consumers.
And ELM is also being confronted with other legal challenges – including by power bulk supplier Eskom – on electricity issues ranging from withdrawing its licence from energy regulator Nersa to distribute power and for Emfuleni businesses to bypass ELM and pay Eskom directly.
Added to this mix of legal woes are legal efforts from various business sectors to hold Acting Municipal Manager, Dithaba Oupa Nkoane, personally accountable for not complying with certain court orders by holding him in contempt of court.
Also, the embattled ELM management will be forced to face legal costs on a penalty scale for unsuccessful litigation. The impending legal battle specifically over the overturned power tariffs has been branded as short-sighted and not in the interests of sustainable revenue generation for ELM itself by Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) CEO, Klippies Kritzinger. The battle-lines in this regard between ELM and the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) and other Large Power Users (LPU’s) in Emfuleni were again drawn this week as ELM continued its court challenge on the tariff overturning order.
Attorney Lourens Swart of PNS legal firm in Vanderbijlpark confirmed that a notice was lodged on Monday this week to oppose an application by ELM for a rescission order on the original tariff overturning order by the Gauteng High Court in 2019.
However, despite its determination to oppose ELM’s predatory power increases and see consumers paid back or credited, Kritzinger still held out a conciliatory hand to ELM top management to find a solution based on common ground and not the courts.
“The long-term sustainability of business is far more important and in the interests of ELM revenue generation than the short-term revenue benefits of exorbitant power tariff increases and hugely expensive lawfare in the courts paid for by ratepayers,” said Kritzinger.
Kritzinger urged ELM top management to rather seek common ground with business and other stakeholders to find a lasting solution to such issues rather than use ratepayers’ money in the courts.
“We need to find common ground and a way forward to deal constructively with such issues. “This is why the GTCoC and other business stakeholders welcome the efforts by Executive Mayor Gift Moerane to establish a Business Forum on service delivery and economic development so that issues can be interrogated and resolved before going to extremes,” Kritzinger said.
A range of business stakeholders were invited by Moerane in December to participate in his Business Forum after Eskom threatened a power cut-off due to ELM non-payment last year.
