No load shedding planned for the week

Eskom today said that pre-emptive load shedding measures over the past two weeks have allowed the country to avoid a national blackout.

In recent weeks the national power grid has been strained due to ailing diesel reserves, wet weather conditions and much needed maintenance at power stations.

An example of this pre-emptive load shedding was experienced by many residents this weekend, this time due to general upkeep measures at the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power station in Mozambique.

While Eskom says it hopes this weekend’s load shedding was the last for the year, more maintenance can be expected during the festive season.

The power utility’s Andrew Etzinger says, “Heading into the festive period, we will be doing a lot of maintenance, although the demand for electricity will be lighter as well.

“All in all, I think on balance we’ll do our best to avoid load shedding but we can’t rule it out unfortunately.”

Eskom says it’s built up enough reserves to meet this week’s energy demands.

It says that public consumption will dictate whether or not more load shedding will be rolled out this week.

Etzinger says, “As to whether the reserves last the entire coming week will depend on the extent that they need to be run in that week.

“That is where we’re continuing to urge business and home owners to please use electricity very sparingly.”