08 February 2015, Pretoria — Eskom moved from stage 1 to stage 2 load-shedding at 2pm Thursday afternoon, and the programme lasted till 10pm same day.
In a statement released same day, the company explained it was due to a shortage of generation capacity as additional units had to be taken out of service for unplanned maintenance due to technical faults.
“In the morning we mentioned that Majuba Power Station’s Unit 3, Duvha’s Unit 2, and Koeberg’s Unit 1 are on unplanned maintenance. Now we have two more units that have had to be taken off service,” Eskom said in a statement.
At the Kriel Power Station, Unit 3 experienced a boiler tube leak, and Camden’s Unit 4 has a generator hydrogen leak.
“The power system remains constrained and will remain so for the rest of this week. Any extra load or faults in the system may necessitate the need to go into load shedding.
“We therefore urge all electricity customers to reduce their consumption in order to reduce the severity of load-shedding,” it said.
Eskom also called on all customers to reduce the load on the electricity grid by urgently switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand.
Commercial customers, particularly shopping centres and office blocks, can also make a big difference by switching off non-essential lights and not leaving office equipment such as photocopiers and computers in standby mode after hours.
Eskom customers can check load-shedding schedules on the Eskom website (http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za) or contact customer call centre on 0860 037 566.
Municipal customers are urged to contact their local authorities.
Eskom will provide regular updates on the status of the power system throughout the day.
*SAnews.gov.za
