Eskom commenced load shedding during the peak period on Wednesday morning due to a continued shortage of capacity caused by both planned and unplanned maintenance, the power supplier said. Erica Johnson, director of operations and planning, said load shedding would continue throughout the day.
Johnson said: ”We still have 21% of our generating plant on planned and unplanned [cuts]. Eskom is doing everything possible to return the generating units to service and to minimise load shedding.
”The forecast for the week commencing December 2007 17, leading through to the festive season, is that there is a very low probability of load shedding due to the low demand during this period.”
Consumers were urged to use energy efficiently during this period.
”The system remains vulnerable to any additional problems occurring during that time as we continue with a heavy maintenance schedule.
”We would like to warn all consumers that the system is forecast to be tight from the second week of January, due to the increase in demand and the continued maintenance on our plant,” Johnson said.
During this time, Eskom would use all emergency energy resources, including its gas turbines and it would buy back power from large industrial customers before implementing load shedding. — Sapa