At least three Eastern Cape villages will remain without electricity after protesting community members threatened Eskom employees and vandalised their truck this week.
The Power Utility says the team was attending to a faulty line.
Now residents at Drayini, Ngcingwana, and Sofutho villages will sit in the dark after Eskom suspended operations.
A protesting mob allegedly approached them and forced them to divert the services to an area with predominantly illegal connections.
The company says it's working closely with the local leadership to remove illegal connections in this area while also ensuring employee safety.
In a statement on Friday, the Utility said it would also re-look at resuming its operations in this area.
Meanwhile: Eskom has condemned the recent attack on its Klipspruit Customer Network Centre in Soweto in which one of its contracted security officers was killed.
The security guard succumbed to head injuries after he and six of his colleagues were shot at by approximately 30 heavily armed suspects during an attempt to steal copper cable outside the facility.
Eskom is also investigating an attack on its Winterveld substation in Gauteng in which three of its guards were injured.
The power utility says four suspects appeared out of nowhere in the late-night attack and opened fire on four of its security guards near the main gate.
Three of the guards sustained gunshot wounds and were robbed of their firearms and cell phones.
Eskom said it strongly condemns these acts of criminality and that members of the public can report suspicious activities anonymously to the Eskom Crime Line on 0800 11 27 22 (toll-free) or to their nearest police station.
