Cape Town - Due to four generating units successfully returning to service during the night, the power utility has moved to Stage 2 load shedding from 09:00 on Sunday.
Eskom said that continuing with load shedding will help replenish the emergency reserves including the hydro-pumped storage scheme levels to better prepare for next week. Eskom added that it will provide regular updates to customers.
"Unplanned outages or breakdowns were at 10 235MW as at 06:20 this morning while planned maintenance is at 6 274MW," they said.
"Implementing Stage 3 load shedding during the night has helped us to reduce the usage of the emergency diesel reserves and to replenish hydro-pumped storage scheme levels. While the system has improved, we remind customers that should there be a change in the system and in the demand profile, the stage of load shedding may change at short notice."
The power supplied said that load shedding is a highly controlled process implemented by the System Operator to ensure the security of the power system and to prevent a national blackout.
"Inconvenient as it is, load shedding is the only way to protect the entire electricity system."
They also reminded South Africans that there is a possibility of increased load shedding over the next 18 months as they are conducting critical maintenance to restore the ageing plant to good health.
Eskom appeals to customers to continue to use electricity sparingly and to assist us in reducing demand:
- Set air-conditioners’ average temperature at 23ºC
- Switch off your geysers over peak periods
- Use the cold water tap rather than using the geyser every time
- Set your swimming pool pump cycle to run twice a day, three hours at a time
- At the end of the day, turn off computers, copiers, printers and fax machines at the switch.
"We appeal to customers to revisit their loadshedding schedules on the Eskom ( https://loadshedding.eskom.co.za) or local municipal websites, depending on their electricity supplier, to review amendments."