Eskom’s ”power alert” messages will be broadcast on South African Broadcasting Corporation television from Thursday night, the electricity utility said in a statement.
The alerts, which will show as a series of on-screen coloured bars, are meant to help regulate electricity use in the blackout-threatened Western Cape.
Eskom said the alert, in which a red bar will indicate ”increasing strain” on the system, and brown that load shedding is in progress, will appear between 6pm and 9pm.
When the brown bar appears, residential consumers should switch off all electrical devices, including geysers, that are not absolutely essential.
Meanwhile, the refuelling of Koeberg’s unit two has begun and by August this year this process will be completed and the situation at the nuclear power station will ”return to normal”, Minister of Minerals and Energy Lindiwe Hendricks said on Thursday.
”The assistance of the French government in supplying the rotor has helped to ensure speedy return to service of Koeberg unit one, which is now fully operational,” she noted.
The rotor was damaged by a bolt, which contributed to recent power-supply shortages in the Western Cape.
Hendricks, who was speaking in her Budget vote on Thursday, said the problems at Koeberg had a positive consequence, ”albeit in an ironic way”.
”We have now taken the opportunity to embark on concerted energy efficiency and demand-side management programmes, both here and nationally. We have asked consumers in the Western Cape to become more energy efficient and to use alternative energy forms … particularly at peak times.” — Sapa, I-Net Bridge