Oracle is sticking to its guns, saying Eskom should pay the money it owes or continue without technical support.
The software giant withdrew support last week as Eskom failed to pay the R380-million it says is owed, and which has been ratified by the court.
“Eskom should pay the pending dues for the Oracle software that they use,” is so far the only statement forthcoming from Oracle.
Oracle initially sought to recover R7,3-billion from Eskom, but later reduced that amount to R380-million. Eskom is only prepared to pay R166-million, although Eskom’s application for an interdict against Oracle was dismissed, with costs, by the High Court.
An Eskom spokesman says the utility is now issuing an urgent procurement tender to find the required technical support elsewhere.
It’s not clear exactly what systems are at risk, although it is believed Oracle is central to Eskom’s online vending system that processes 77-million transactions of electricity sales a month.