Johannesburg - The power system will be heavily constrained on Thursday night, Eskom warned.
“The system is very tight tonight over the evening peak, and is expected to remain tight over the evening peaks for the rest of the week due to higher demand with the colder weather conditions,” it said in a statement.
“The capacity available to meet this evening's peak demand is 35 000 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 34,501 MW.”
The demand for electricity was at its peak from 5pm to 9pm and Eskom appealed to consumers to use electricity sparingly during this period.
Planned maintenance stood at 2 700 MW, while unplanned outages were 5 400 MW.
Peak demand was forecast at 33 290 MW for Friday, 32 968 MW for Saturday, 32 732 MW for Sunday, 34 604 MW for Monday, 34 302 MW for Tuesday and 34 230 MW for Wednesday.
“We request all electricity customers to save at least 10 percent of their electricity usage and sustain these savings. Eskom continues to make progress with its programme of planned maintenance but the system remains tight.”
Sapa