Eskom agrees to supply electricity to Astral Foods — for now
Chickens at Astral Foods’ Goldi and Meadow Feeds operations received a stay of execution on Wednesday when Eskom agreed to postpone cutting Lekwa municipality’s power for not paying its bills. "We, the paid-up consumers of electricity, should not be penalised for the inefficiencies and corruption prevalent in local municipalities," Astral CEO Chris Schutte said. Eskom was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, but settled the case Astral brought against it by agreeing to continue supplying electricity to Lekwa municipality, formerly known as Standerton. Eskom intended cutting Lekwa’s power on February 28. Eskom’s agreement, however, is only valid until a court hearing scheduled for May. "The dependency on Eskom, who have a monopoly over the supply of electricity, is not healthy and its repeated threats to interrupt supply has a profound effect on businesses such as Astral — and business confidence in general, impacting investment and growth opportunities," Schutte said. "We will c...
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