‘Please use electricity sparingly’

Eskom implemented stage 2 load shedding yesterday from 21:00 to 06:00 due to system constraints and the depleting emergency resources.

“We have been using pumped storage schemes and open cycle gas turbines extensively over the past few days in order to supplement capacity, and we need to replenish these overnight. The risk of stage 2 load shedding remains for today (Friday) into the weekend, but we will review the status of the system and communicate tomorrow morning,” reports Ronel Kotze (Stakeholder and Media Relations Eskom).

“We unreservedly apologise to South Africans for the negative impact this may have on them. Customers are advised to check their load shedding schedules on the Eskom or municipal websites depending on who supplies them. We want to assure the nation that we continue to work tirelessly to bring back on line units that experienced breakdowns. Keeping generation units outages below 9 500 MW is part of a plan to manage our ageing fleet and bring stability back into the power system”.

To assist them in avoiding or reducing the stage of load shedding, they appeal to customers to continue to use electricity sparingly:

• Set air-conditioners’ average temperature at 23ºC
• Switch of 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 for optimal energy use.

• At the end of the day, turn off computers, copiers, printers and fax machines at the switch. Avoid stand-by or sleep mode.