The lights went out in several parts of South Africa on Thursday morning as Eskom carried out load-shedding as its capacity was stretched by a surprise surge in consumption.
Power plants failed, including Koeberg nuclear power station’s unit one, when the turbine tripped at 2.18am.
”There is a national alert,” said Eskom spokesperson Tony Stott.
The power utility said it had embarked on an ”equitable” load-shedding programme, the timetable for which is to be posted on Eskom’s website.
Eskom’s regional head offices will also offer this information to consumers.
”We shall try to do load-shedding equitably throughout the country,” said Stott.
Meanwhile, much of Johannesburg, particularly the western parts, was affected by the power failure.
In Krugersdorp, there were delays bringing awaiting-trial detainees to court, with the lights out in the underground holding cells.
There were reports of power failures in large parts of the Western and Eastern Cape.
Power failures in Cape Town began at about 8am in various areas, including Table View, Paarden Eiland, Salt River, Rondebosch and Mowbray.
Worcester, 110km north of the city, was also affected.
In the Eastern Cape, large areas of Port Elizabeth also suffered power cuts shortly after 8am, according to Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality media management officer Lourens Schoeman.
Load-shedding was expected to last about two hours per area.
Towns in the Free State were without power from 8am.
Among them were Parys, Vredefort and Koppies in the north of the province and all towns in the Nketlana municipal area at Reitz in the east.
Large parts of the KwaZulu-Natal capital were also hit by power failures.
Pietermaritzburg acting municipal manager Rob Haswell said that while he understood the problem, he found it ”unacceptable” that the municipality was given a very short notice period.
”We could not even communicate it to our consumers,” he said.
Meanwhile, Eskom appealed to residents whose areas still had power to save electricity by switching off their geysers, swimming-pool pumps, air conditioners and all other equipment that use electricity.
”The first call for residents to switch of electrical appliances, which was broadcast on local radio stations from 6am, was well supported and there has already been a marked drop in the use of electricity.”
Business Report last year quoted Eskom as saying that South Africa would need to spend as much as R10-billion a year from 2010 on building power stations as excess electricity generation capacity runs out. — Sapa