Eskom is currently not loadshedding, however the system remains tight with a low possibility of loadshedding today and for the rest of week, the entity said in a statement today. “We will keep our customers informed if there are any changes to the system.”
In a statement from the Media Desk, Eskom thanked customers for assisting in keeping the power system stable by reducing their energy usage yesterday when it implemented stage 1 loadshedding.
“Our customers’ response enabled us to increase our emergency reserves earlier than projected and we could therefore stop loadshedding at 7pm instead of 10pm,” Eskom said.
“Our generation system currently faces operational challenges, which include deterioration of coal fired power stations, 10 stations with less than 20 coal stock days as per grid code requirement resulting in increased utilisation of emergency resources including open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs). The performance of our generation system is below desired levels thus raising the risk of loadshedding for the remainder of 2018,” Eskom said.
Eskom Group Chief Executive Phakamani Hadebe said, “A nine-point recovery plan has been put in place to address our key operational challenges and these include fixing new plants, fixing full load losses and trips, fixing units on long-term forced outages, partial losses and Boiler tube leaks, fixing outage duration and slips, fixing human capital, preparing for increased OCGT usage, prepare for rain and fixing coal stock piles.”
They encouraged residents and businesses to use electricity sparingly to ease the demand. Tis included switching off geysers and non-essential lighting and electricity appliances.
Customers were advised to keep checking their load shedding schedules on the Eskom or municipal website, and plan on the assumption that load shedding will take place.
For Eskom customers, these schedules are available on the Eskom website (http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za). Eskom customers can also contact our customer contact centre at 0860 037 566.
