Eskom said it will institute stage 1 load shedding from 09h00 until 23h00 on Friday (18 October).<\/p>\n
In a statement, the embattled power utility said that the shortage of capacity is due to the breakdown of a number of generating units which are still out of service.<\/p>\n
“Customers should note that some areas may take longer to be restored. If customers experience outages for longer periods than announced, please contact your supplier (Eskom or municipality) as this may be a localised power outage,” it said.<\/p>\n
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience to affected customers.”<\/p>\n
Weekend load shedding unlikely<\/strong><\/p>\n Acting Eskom chief executive Jabu Mabuza said that South Africa is unlikely to be affected by load shedding through the weekend as more generating units return to service, Reuters<\/a> <\/strong>reported.<\/p>\n \u201cThe system remains constrained and vulnerable,\u201d Mabuza said.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, some generating units have already returned to service and we are expecting more units to return to service over the next few days, which lessens the probability of load shedding towards the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n Mabuza said the decision is necessary to protect the grid from total collapse after unplanned outages.<\/p>\n \u201cOur objective is not to implement load shedding. If we have to as a matter of last resort in order to protect the integrity of the system, we aim to do so at minimal levels, in the shortest duration possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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