We may load shed on Sunday night, warns Eskom

Eskom customers should have their candles on standby as the power provider said it was yet to decide whether to keep the lights on on Sunday evening.

In a statement, the power utility appealed to consumers to reduce electricity usage, saying the power system was “under severe strain as the shortage of generation capacity still persists”.

“The supply constraints are caused by high breakdowns in generation units and high winter demand,” it said.

“While no load-shedding is anticipated at this point, Eskom could be forced to implement stage 1, or if necessary, stage 2 load-shedding at short notice should any further breakdowns occur. This is most likely to occur between 5pm and 10pm in the evening,” Eskom added.

The power utility said breakdowns had resulted in the loss of 14,756MW while another 3,330MW was not available due to planned maintenance work.

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