Electricity connection to new build

My husband and I have recently built a house for my aging father (83 years old) and his wife (75 years old) for them to spend their latter years in comfort and safety in a small town in the picturesque Overberg region called Bot River.

We bought an empty stand/plot last year and commenced building late last year. The build is now complete – and they have had to move into the house as the lease on their previously rented property had come to an end. All is great except that Eskom have not connected the plot to any form of main power supply. We app**** to Eskom months ago for the required connection – and paid the full amount due (R22,936!!!) as per their instruction for this connection in February. The problem is they will not give any indication as when we expect the power to be supp****. It is very difficult for my parents to live in a house with no power – this means no hot water, no power to run their fridges and freezer, no power to their ovens so they can make a living (they bake bread for a country market each weekend to supplement their measly pension). It is unbearable for me – living in Cape Town – to know my parents are having to live like this.

Do you know of any contact at Eskom to whom we can communicate with to get some sort of indication if installation date? Surely we are not unreasonable in asking for this so that we can make plans for temporary power supply to the house (ie a rented generator) in the interim? We need to get some sort of time line so we can plan accordingly. Of course – all emails and phone calls to Eskom just result in being pushed from one person to the next. Customer service isn’t high on their priorities list, it seems!