MBOMBELA – Eskom this week announced that it was not fully successful in recovering dam levels over the weekend, but that they were partially successful in recovering its diesel reserves.
According to Eskom, units which had been taken for maintenance did not return timeously as expected. These factors, coupled with the loss of power supply to coal feeders at Majuba Power Station as a result of cable damage, necessitated the need for load-shedding again this week.
The system was expected to be extremely tight for the week with a medium to high risk of load-shedding, especially on Thursday and Friday.
Lowvelders will experience stage one, two and three of load-shedding in the months ahead. According to Eskom, stage one means it will be applied for two hours every other (or every second) day.
Stage two means that it will take place for two hours daily. Stage three will double the frequency of stage two, as well as covering the overnight period from 21:30 to 05:30, not covered by the other two stages.
This means you should be scheduled three times a day, midnight to midnight, Monday to Sunday. If more loads need to be shed than has been scheduled in stages one, two and three, then national control will instruct additional, unscheduled load-shedding.
This means you may be shed outside of your scheduled times. According to Mbombela Local Municipality it has not received a schedule for the weekend, but the probability of stage two is high over weekends between 06:00 to 22:00 on Saturdays and 08:00 to 22:00 on Sundays.
Block one which include Nelsriver, Riverside precinct, Elawini, Drum Rock, Ridge Hill, Kiaat Hospital, Casino, Government Complex and The Grove Shopping Centre will be affected on Saturday and Sunday between 06:00 to 08:30 by stage one of load-shedding and again 12:00 to 14:30 by stage three.
Block three which includes Rocky’s Drift, White River and White River Country Estates will be affected by stage two between 10:00 to 12:30 and again by stage three 20:00 to 22:30.
Block 10 which includes the Steiltes area, Vintonia, Riverside Industrial, Valencia, Orchards, Nelsville, KaMagugu, Water Works, CBD, Village Spar, Crossing SUPERSPAR, the showground, Croc Valley area and Bateleur Estates will be affected on Saturday and Sunday between 20:00 to 22:30 and stage three will be implemented between 08:00 to 10:30.
Eskom calls on all South Africans to pull together over the next few months and use electricity sparingly by “living lightly” this summer. Less is more this summer and homeowners and businesses can do so with just four steps:
Switch off geysers and pool pumps; switch off non-essential lights; efficient use of air-conditioners by keeping the room temperature at 23°C; and finally, responding to the alerts on televison each evening. Eskom continues to make progress with its programme of planned maintenance but the system remains tight.
