Residents of several Eastern Cape towns will be without electricity for as many as 14 hours a day after their municipality failed to reach an agreement with Eskom over outstanding debts.

Eskom announced on Wednesday that, from Monday, it would implement “bulk” power interruption to the Raymond Mhlaba local municipality in the Eastern Cape due to non-payment of its account.

“The decision was taken after Raymond Mhlaba local municipality failed to provide Eskom with an acceptable payment arrangement of the municipality's bulk electricity debt,” the power utility said in a statement.

Fort Beaufort, Adelaide and Bedford were among the towns which would be affected.

Two weeks ago it was reported that the Raymond Mhlaba Municipality owed Eskom R148m of the R1.1bn owed to the power utility by Eastern Cape municipalities.

The power utility said the interruptions would continue until the debt was paid in full or when an acceptable repayment arrangement was made.

During week one of the interruptions, Eskom said power supply would be interrupted from 6am-9am and 5pm-8.30pm from Monday to Friday, and from 8.30am to midday and from 3pm-7pm on Saturday and Sunday.

However, from week two, starting on December 30, power would be cut for 14 hours, from 6am-8pm, from Monday to Sunday.