Johannesburg - Eskom is not planning to implement rolling blackouts as maintenance work continues throughout the long weekend.
”The power grid is stable, we are not planning to load shed and if we do, it would be because of failure by power plants to produce electricity,” spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said on Saturday.
”The maintenance festival at our plants started on Friday and will continue throughout the week until May 1. We appeal to customers to use power sparingly,” he said.
Engineers were out doing bulk maintenance work to get machinery ready for the winter season, Phasiwe said.
Eskom’s acting chief executive Brian Molefe told MPs this week that Eskom would need to find 3 000 megawatts of electricity - the average shortfall in power the grid experienced on a daily basis - before the end of the year.
Eskom has battled to keep the lights on since the collapse of one of its coal storage silos, diesel shortages, and maintenance.
The unstable power grid was becoming more vulnerable due to the approaching winter season and the resultant high electricity demand.
ANA