This is due to a shortage of generation capacity as several units are currently on unplanned outages due to technical faults.
At Tutuka, Unit 6 experienced a condenser tube leak last night and had to be taken offline; Duvha Unit 6 is on outage so that repairs can be done on its oil cooler; while work is ongoing at Koeberg’s Unit 1 which experienced an earth fault on the generator transformer on Sunday.
Customers are notified that in Cape Town, three mini substations have been
vandalised, affecting industrial customers in the Blackheath area, as a result, customers in that area will have power outages for most of today. Eskom has been working on urgent repairs since the incident occurred early this morning.
According to Eskom, they’d like communities to desist from vandalising property as it not only interrupts customers’ power supply but is also very dangerous and can lead to the loss of life.
For any information regarding this incident contact Eskom’s Crime Line on 0800 11 27 22.
The power system remains constrained and will remain so for the rest of this week.
Any extra load or faults in the system may necessitate the need to go into load shedding. We therefore urge all electricity customers to reduce their consumption in order to reduce the severity of load shedding.
Eskom calls on all customers to reduce the load on the electricity grid by urgently switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand.
Commercial customers, particularly shopping centres and office blocks, can also make a big difference by switching off non-essential lights and not leaving office equipment such as photocopiers and computers in standby mode after hours.
Eskom customers can check load shedding schedules on the Eskom website (http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za) or contact our customer call centre on 0860 037 566. Municipal customers are urged to contact their local authorities.
