“The eThekwini municipality has almost recovered its operations in terms of distribution in the regions affected by the floods. It is not currently experiencing loadshedding but this will change soon and the teams, Eskom and eThekwini municipality are reviewing the situation,” said Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha
Andre de Ruiter, Eskom CEO gave an update on Monday on the state of the power utility and the challenges it is currently facing. De Ruiter said there was a lack of capacity to meet the evening electricity demands and as a result the outlook is aimed at loadshedding stage 3. The rolling blackouts are scheduled to take place between Monday and Tuesday from 17:00 to 22:00.
“We have 2,094 MW for planned maintenance work. The total unplanned losses are 16,307 MW, which is a very high number if we expect demand for evening peaks,” he said.
De Ruiter highlighted how the power utility struggles to keep up with the evening peaks as that is the time when most people use electricity. “It’s just a limitation we have during peak periods. During the day we can handle the demand. We are aware that the impact on the domestic consumer is particularly pronounced after 5pm and that is very unfortunate.,” he said.
Source: Times Live, Mawazo Writing Africa, Business Day, image from Times Live