Pretoria - Municipal debts owed to energy parastatal Eskom by Free State municipalities have been settled.
"Eskom is happy to announce that the outstanding municipal debt by municipalities in the Free State has been settled to our satisfaction," said Eskom on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier this month, the parastatal indicated that it had issued some of the Free State municipalities with notices of intent to disconnect their electricity supply if they did not settle outstanding accounts by 20 July 2010.
The municipalities that were in arrears were Mangaung, Ngwathe, Moqhaka, Matjhabeng, Mafube, Nala and Dihlabeng.
However, Eskom added that there was still one outstanding account, that of the Mafube Municipality which covers the Frankfort and Villiers areas.
"Eskom has agreed to grant the Mafube Municipality an additional five working days to settle their outstanding account and will continue to supply electricity to the municipality," said the parastatal.
The municipality has committed to pay the first part of the debt today while the remainder of the settlement will be made next Tuesday.
"Eskom will reconsider disconnecting the municipality if no settlement is received by then."
It highlighted that the suspension of electricity would be a measure of last resort.
