Eskom on Tuesday said it is “considering” cutting the power to the City of Tshwane, which includes Pretoria and Centurion, over alleged non-payment by the metro.

In a statement on Tuesday, Eskom said is may cut power to the sprawling metro “as one of the necessary steps to secure” monies it said is owed to it.

“The City of Tshwane is in breach of the electricity supply agreement which it holds with Eskom by failing to pay the R1.6-billion which was due and payable on 17 August 2022,” the state-owned power utility said.

“The city only paid R68-million to date, which did little to dent the massive outstanding balance on its electricity account.”

Eskom said it has had “numerous engagements with the City of Tshwane’s management to ensure the city pays its account”.

“Nevertheless, these actions have not yielded any results as the city has continued with the same pattern. The inconsistent payments are both untenable and unacceptable since Eskom’s financial position is well known. The city’s persistent failure to honour its payments places a huge burden on Eskom to continue providing it with electricity.”

Pretoria is the seat of government in South Africa and all national government departments are based there. It is also home to many foreign diplomatic missions and to the Union Buildings, where the presidency is located.

It is also the site of several major industries, including automotive manufacturing — both BMW and Ford have motor manufacturing plants of signficant scale in Tshwane. Telkom and its subsidiary BCX have their head offices in Tshwane, too, as does Dark Fibre Africa and the fintech company Hello Group.