Eskom declares electricity emergency

 ·19 Nov 2013
Eskom powerlines

Eskom has declared an electricity supply emergency, and is urging customers to severely curtail usage from Tuesday (19 November) onwards.

“The power system is severely constrained today due to the loss of additional generating units from our power station fleet and the extensive use of emergency reserves,” Eskom said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This has necessitated the need for Eskom to declare an emergency in terms of the approved regulatory protocols.”

Eskom was now following protocols under its emergency procedures to secure the power system.

“We have alerted our key industrial customers and have required them to reduce their load by a minimum of 10%,” the parastatal said.

“While we will make every effort to avoid load shedding, we are hopeful that by applying these measures we will achieve the required load reduction necessary to protect the national grid.”

Eskom called on all customers to switch off their geysers, pool pumps, air conditioning and all non-essential appliances between 5pm and 9pm.

“As workers leave office buildings this [Tuesday] evening, we ask that they please switch off lights, with the exception of the security lighting,” Eskom said.

“As a precautionary measure, we will be publishing load shedding schedules for Eskom direct customers on our website from 5pm today.”

“Where possible, we recommend that you switch off air conditioning unless necessary, in which case it should be set at 23C.”

The company urged the public to look out for power alerts and bulletins on television to find out the real-time status of the electricity system.

The web address is loadshedding.eskom.co.za/

More on Eskom

Eskom says sorry for spying

Eskom gets R1.3 billion loan for solar plant

South Africa’s electricity price shock

Eskom load shedding already in effect: analyst

Please reduce power usage: Eskom

Eskom tariff hike scaled down

Show comments
Subscribe to our daily newsletter