While Grahamstown escaped the weekend relatively unscathed, with only Saturday morning's load shedding, Eskom has released another update on the state of the country’s power system on Monday December 1.
While Grahamstown escaped the weekend relatively unscathed, with only Saturday morning's load shedding, Eskom has released another update on the state of the country’s power system on Monday December 1.
Eskom’s decision to implement load shedding over the weekend in order to build up its reserves has paid off as the system is now in a better state they said in a statement. Load shedding was necessary over the weekend to allow maintenance at the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power station in Mozambique, as well as other more minor maintenance work.
“The sacrifice that South Africans made over the weekend has not been in vain.
"Three units (Majuba 6, Drakensburg 1 and Lethabo 5) that were out of service due to technical problems were repaired over the weekend giving back much-needed megawatts into the system,” Chief Executive of Eskom Tshediso Matona said in the statement.
"Diesel supplies have recovered significantly while our dam levels were at full capacity yesterday morning. Imports from Cahora Bassa were fully restored to 1 530 MW by Monday morning," Matona said.
“This puts the electricity system at a much better state to face the week ahead. We sincerely thank the public for their support and understanding as we go through this challenging period of a severely constrained power system,” Matona said.
According to Eskom, the electricity system will remain constrained this week requiring use of emergency reserves (water and diesel power plants) to meet demand, especially during peak hours.
Eskom is monitoring the system closely. Any unforeseen technical problems at power stations or an increase in demand due to weather conditions could necessitate the implementation of rotational load shedding.
Eskom say they will provide regular updates on the status of the power system through all media platforms. Eskom calls on consumers to switch off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day to reduce pressure on the power system.
Full load shedding schedule for December is available online here
