Eskom released a statement on Wednesday 18 December 2019, stating that due to a failure of payment, bulk electricity supply to the Raymond Mhlaba local municipality in the Eastern Cape, will be interrupted over the festive season.

Starting on Monday 23 December 2019, the day before Christmas Eve, residents in several Eastern Cape towns will be without electricity for as long as 14 hours a day.

Here’s what the Eskom statement said

Eskom is ready to proceed with bulk electricity supply interruption to Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality on 23 December 2019.

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 interruption will continue until the debt is paid in full or an acceptable repayment arrangement is made by the municipality in favour of Eskom.

#EskomEasternCape #MediaStatement



Eskom to interrupt bulk electricity supply to Raymond Mhlaba Local

Municipality. pic.twitter.com/PI5Z5bq1ap — Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) December 18, 2019

Interrupted power supply in these towns

According to the statement, Eskom will interrupt electricity supply to certain towns in the Eastern Cape.

“The contemplated interruption of electricity supply will result in temporary scheduled interruptions at the following towns with specific times; Fort Beaufort, Adelaide and Bedford.”

The times of power interruption in the first week will be 06:00 to 09:00 and 17:00 to 20:30 from Monday to Friday.

There will be load shedding on Saturday and Sunday from 08:30 to 12:00 and then again at 15:00 to 19:00.

Week two and onwards, there will be load shedding from 06:00 to 20:00 from Monday to Sunday. That amounts to a whopping 14 hours a day for an entire week.

Eskom’s municipal debt

According to SowetanLive, the Raymond Mhlaba Municipality owed Eskom R148m of the R1.1bn owed to the power utility by Eastern Cape municipalities.

In March this year, Public Enterprises Minister revealed that the overdue debt owed to Eskom by municipalities was standing at R19.9bn. By the end of August 2019, the debt increased to R23.5bn.

Between March and August 2019, the collective municipal debt had increased by more than R3.5bn.

Gordhan revealed the debt in a written reply to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) parliamentary question. The political party queried the power utility’s overdue debt at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).