Power production is at risk of stopping, sources from ELEM told A1 Television. A1 reported that the continuous production of power might be interrupted due to the debt of some 40 million euros of the state-run power transmission company (MEPSO) to ELEM (the company running Macedonia's power stations).

According to the information of A1, ESM-Distribution too, which is currently cutting off debtors, has unsettled liabilities to MEPSO. Following the company's split-up, it was agreed that the three companies should split the money too, but this has not yet started working.   

In the meantime, ESM-Distribution started a campaign to collect its claims, first from the government institutions owing 11 million euros.

The Ministry of Defense expressly repaid over a half of its debt on Tuesday and so the power supply in the Macedonian Army General Staff and the Ilinden military barracks was restored. The Macedonian National Theater, the Faculty for Islam in Kondovo and the Medical Institute, whose cutting-off was postponed on Tuesday, paid their bills too.

ESM's Austrian owners cut off more than 30 schools in Macedonia, the houses of culture in Tetovo, Bitola and Strumica, and the Drama Faculty in Skopje. Cables were also cut to a gauge in the Skopje regional office of the Ministry of Finance.

Finance Ministry officials say that ESM-Distribution made a mistake when reading the gauge and the power was cut without making revision of the disputed reading. ESM-Distribution officials, on the other hand, say the reading was revised before cutting off the office.