Eskom aborts load shedding

Eskom aborted stage one rolling power cuts on Tuesday morning amid a significant decrease in electricity demand.

“Eskom did not implement load shedding at 10am as the electricity demand decreased significantly, since the early warning notification,” the group said on Tuesday (3 February).

“System remains tight & should any unexpected change in demand / with our generating plant occur it may increase possibility of load shedding,” it said.

Earlier, spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said that the group would be forced to implement stage one load shedding from 10am to 10pm, due to a severely constrained system.

Stage one allows for up to 1000MW of the national load to be cut, stage two for up to 2000MW, and stage three for up to 4000MW.

Phasiwe said the power cuts could end earlier if consumers used electricity sparingly.

The power grid was under pressure on Monday after one of Koeberg’s units — which produces 900MW — was taken out of service because of a technical fault.

Phasiwe said the unit was still down on Tuesday.

“We are trying to sync it into service. It will take a few days but it should be online soon.”

More on Eskom

Stage one load shedding returns

Eskom wants to charge more for peak demand

Thursday load shedding risk low: Eskom

Eskom didn’t even say sorry