South Africa's biggest city and economic hub Johannesburg could have its power supply ​throttled by state-owned electricity company Eskom over unpaid ‌debts, Eskom said on Tuesday.

*Eskom said in a statement that the City of Johannesburg and its power utility ​City Power owed it arrear debt of ​5.26 billion rand ($315.26 million). A further 1.58 ⁠billion rand is due on June 5.

*The ​City of Johannesburg did not immediately respond to a ​Reuters request for comment.

*Eskom has issued a notice of its intention to "reduce, interrupt and/or terminate the supply of electricity ​to certain bulk supply points against the ​City of Johannesburg and City Power".

*The utility said it had ‌worked ⁠with the Johannesburg metropolitan municipality for more than two years over the unpaid debts, but the city had repeatedly defaulted.

*Johannesburg's financial woes have been ​in the spotlight ​recently after ⁠the country's National Treasury raised "serious concerns", over the state of its finances.

*Eskom ​has also had longstanding financial troubles, ​but ⁠it has started to emerge from them thanks to government bailouts and a sudden turnaround in the ⁠performance ​of its coal-fired power station ​fleet. It reported its first full-year profit in eight years last ​year. (Reuters, 2026-05-20)