Eskom will conduct load-shedding ”equitably” throughout the country, the power utility said on Thursday.
The parastatal’s regional centres would have information on which areas would be affected and when.
Spokesperson Tony Stott said there would also be information on the Eskom website.
”We shall try to do load-shedding equitably throughout the country,” he said.
Eskom has not yet been able to establish the reason for an unexpected huge surge in demand, which came while maintenance was being carried out at power stations.
”There is a national alert,” he said.
Much of Johannesburg was affected by the power failure although Eastgate and Sandton City said they were enjoying normal power supply.
The city’s emergency services had adequate generators and operations had not been affected by mid-morning, said spokesperson Malcolm Midgely.
In Krugersdorp, there were delays bringing awaiting-trial detainees to court, with the lights out in the underground holding cells.
Earlier, Jacob Maroga, the managing director for power transmission, said: ”Eskom is experiencing unplanned outages of 4 600MW due to technical generating plant problems.”
”This is 3 000MW higher than was anticipated for this period. The electricity demand is 1 000MW higher than planned.”
The automatic shutdown of Koeberg Unit One was due to a trip of the turbine.
”Eskom is using all pre-arranged emergency options, however this will not be sufficient to address the shortfall of electricity for today [Thursday] and possibly for the coming week.”
”In order to maintain the balance between demand and supply, mandatory load shedding will be implemented countrywide, as and when required.”
Moses Mamba from Eskom’s media desk told the Mail & Guardian Online that it would take a while for power to be fully restored, as Eskom had to ”strengthen the networks”.
He said this ”can’t happen overnight”. – Sapa