Eskom's warning to reduce power consumption this week

Eskom's Tshediso issued a warning that Eskom's electricity output would remained constrained this week because of technical problems and various plants combined with essential maintenance at some generation sites. Image: Who's Who in Southern Africa

Eskom has appealed to consumers to switch off geysers, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances in the evening to prevent the need for rotational load shedding.

"The power system is severely constrained and will remain that way for the rest of the week after technical problems at some of our power stations and the loss of additional generating units," said Eskom.

The utility has alerted key industrial customers about the supply problem and asked them to reduce their load by a at least 10%.

"We are moving into a typical summer load profile and a period when maintenance is increased. As the system is tight, any additional problems experienced at a generation plant increase the risk of load shedding. This risk will continue into November," said Chief Executive Tshediso Matona

"We are doing everything we can to ensure the continued supply of electricity and our technical teams are hard at work to bring back units at our generating plants. We appeal for sustained savings throughout the day in order to reduce demand on the electricity grid," he said.

The utility said it will make every effort to avoid load shedding, but as a precautionary measure load shedding schedules are available on the Eskom website Load Shedding Schedule for Eskom customers.

Municipal customers should contact their local municipalities for load shedding details.