Johannesburg- The country’s power utility Eskom has warned that it may have to implement load shedding at short notice after experiencing breakdowns at its power stations.
Urging the public to use electricity sparingly, Eskom in a statement said the power system was “severely constrained”.
The country last week experienced week-long outages after Eskom implemented load shedding.
While load shedding had not been implemented, it warned that “load shedding may be required at short notice should any further generation breakdowns occur, or should some of the generating units not return to service as expected”.
“Over the past 24 hours, Eskom teams returned a generation unit each at Camden, Kendal and Medupi power stations.
“Over the same period, two-generation units, one at Arnot and another at Hendrina, tripped while a unit at Arnot and Lethabo was forced to shut down.”
Eskom said total breakdowns amounted to 15 852 while planned maintenance was 4 036 of capacity.
The utility reminded customers and the public that load shedding was implemented as a last resort to maintain the stability of the power system.
“We would like again to apologise for the inconvenience caused to the people of South Africa by the constraints.
“Eskom requests the public to continue using electricity sparingly and will communicate promptly should there be any significant changes to the power system,” it said.
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