Residents of the Masilonyana Local Municipality in the Free State experienced their first electricity supply interruption early on Wednesday because the municipality had failed to settle outstanding debts with Eskom.

Eskom said on Tuesday that the municipality‚ covering five towns including Winburg‚ Brandfort and Theunissen‚ owed it R39.8m for electricity.

Eskom warned that it would start interrupting the power supply from Wednesday‚ from 6am to 9am and from 5pm to 8:30pm‚ until the municipality reached an acceptable payment arrangement with the power utility. Should no agreement be reached‚ electricity would be interrupted for 14 hours a day from October 24 onwards.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe confirmed that power interruptions – for three hours – had started on Wednesday. “Power was restored at 9am. They will have electricity until 5pm before the power interruption begins again and will last until 8.30pm‚” Phasiwe said.

Phasiwe said the municipality had not made any payment arrangement with Eskom by Wednesday at noon. The municipality was not immediately available for comment.

In February‚ the municipality faced a R48.5-million debt and faced threats of power interruptions by Eskom. At the time‚ the municipality said payments that had been made to Eskom were made against limited revenue generated by the municipality due to poor payment of services by consumers.

The municipality also said Eskom was not the only creditor when it came to bulk services. Other expenses were also incurred‚ including for bulk raw water supply‚ chemicals for water purification and fuel costs.