Durban - Eskom has urged residents to use electricity sparingly, adding that the power generation system is severely constrained.
"Two generation units tripped earlier on Tuesday. We lost a unit each at Medupi and at Tutuka power stations, totalling about 1 300MW. This constrained supply situation may persist through the weekend," Eskom said in a statement issued on Tuesday evening.
The power giant added that Eskom teams were hard at work trying to return these units to service.
"The public’s co-operation in managing demand will help us supply the country’s demand through the peak periods," Eskom said.
The warning comes a 'mammoth cold front' is due to hit parts of the country later this week and remain for most of the weekend, a time when residents tend to use up more electricity on heaters to keep warm.
According to the report, a low-pressure system has been gaining momentum and can be expected to reach South African shores on Thursday.
SA Weather has also indicated that their snow models are showing signs of snowfall for the days ahead as well as early next week.
"The entire weather community in South Africa has eyes on the mammoth cold front developing in the South Atlantic arriving on Thursday, promises to bring heavy rains and widespread snow to a great deal of SA and even Namibia if the system stays on track," weather blog, SAWX reported.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/coldfront?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coldfrontdeveloping in the South Atlantic (blue) this system, arriving Thursday, promises to bring heavy rains and widespread #snow to a great deal of SA and even #namibia if the system stays on track. pic.twitter.com/zqDIkga0QZ
— SA Weather🌩️sawx.co.za (@sawx_sa_weather)