Eskom load shedding on Friday (19 June)

·19 Jun 2015

Eskom has announced that stage 1 load shedding will be implemented from 17:00 – 22:00 on Friday.

This is due to a shortage of generation capacity, the utility said.

According to acting Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, the risk of a total power blackout in South Africa at any point in future is “out of the question”.

However, many sectors of society, including businesses and municipalities have prepared themselves for at least two weeks of zero power as a precaution.

Trade union Solidarity has called Molefe’s promises of no blackout “highly irresponsible”, saying that, while the risk of a total grid collapse is low, the public shouldn’t be led to believe it is totally out of the question.

“The public will not be able to count on government for help, should it happen. For this reason it is essential that members of the public prepare themselves for the possibility of temporarily having to cope without power,” Solidarity said.

Aside from the promises of no blackout, Molefe said that South Africans could choose between the pain of higher electricity prices to pay for Eskom’s diesel to keep the lights on – or choose power cuts.

Molefe argued that the pain of people paying more was far less than the damage power cuts would cause to the economy.

“If we don’t have the diesel, then we go into load shedding sooner and it will be more severe,” he said following a briefing on the state of the country’s power system.

The power utility was spending about R1.5 billion a month on diesel to power its open cycle gas turbines, and needed billions more to keep them running.