Eskom load shedding is back! On Thursday night, power utility Eskom announced that it would implement load shedding from 10pm until Friday morning.
It remains to be seen though if South Africa will have a load shedding free Friday or weekend.
News of load shedding still, somewhat came as a surprise after Eskom on Thursday morning indicated that while the system remained constrained and vulnerable, no load shedding was expected.
” The electricity system remains under severe pressure with more than 10 500MW unavailable due to planned or unplanned breakdowns at coal-fired power generating stations,” Eskom had said.
Eskom says save electricity to avoid load shedding
“We remind customers that any unexpected shift, such as additional unplanned breakdowns or the unavailability of diesel for our open cycle gas turbines or water levels at our pumped storage schemes, could result in load shedding at short notice,” the utility said.
“We continue to appeal to customers to continue to use electricity sparingly throughout the day.
- Set air-conditioners’ average temperature at 23ºC
- Switch off your geysers over peak periods
- Use the cold water tap rather than using the geyser every time
- Set your swimming pool pump cycle to run twice a day, three hours at a time for optimal energy use.
- At the end of the day, turn off computers, copiers, printers and fax machines at the switch. Avoid stand-by or sleep mode.
Eskom said that customers are advised to check their load shedding schedules on the Eskom or municipal websites.