Load shedding could be extended to the weekend and Monday if electricity demand is not reduced and the supply situation not normalised, Eskom said on Friday afternoon.
Eskom said initial investigations at the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric project indicated there was a supply problem on the Mozambican side because of poor weather conditions.
”Eskom technicians are working closely with Cahora Bassa to resolve the problem.”
South Africa relied on about 1 400MW of power from the station.
Power had also been lost when several generation units went on ”unplanned outages”.
Load shedding would be rotated, with areas being without power for about two hours at a time.
Eskom said it was using all its emergency energy resources, including gas turbines and buying back power from large industrial customers.
”However, this was not sufficient to address the shortfall,” said the company.
Eskom said all electrical points should be treated as live during power interruptions.
Tshwane was having rolling power cuts for two to three hours per area until Eskom had sorted out its problems.
Municipal spokesperson Console Tleane also appealed to motorists to drive carefully because of bad weather and the fact that some traffic lights would be off.
If power remained off in an area no longer scheduled for load-shedding, it should be reported it to the electricity help desk on 012 339 9111 or 080 1111 556, he said.
Johannesburg City Power spokesperson Louis Pieterse said load shedding was currently taking place in Eikenhof, Kibler Park, Lenasia, Doornfontein, Jeppe and a small part of Fordsburg.
He said City Power was ready if load shedding needed to continue into the weekend.
Residential customers should switch off geysers during peak hours — 7am to 10am and 6pm to 9pm. Businesses should turn off all non-essential lighting and equipment.
Load shedding schedules were available at www.eskom.co.za. Customers could also contact Eskom’s call centre on 08600-37566. — Sapa