Eskom says it will be suspending Stage 2 load shedding from 9 pm on Thursday, easing blackouts to Stage 1 load shedding from 5 am until 9 pm on Friday.
Eskom says their teams have successfully returned eight generating units to service over the past 24 hours.
“This together with load-shedding has allowed us to recover the dam levels at the pump storage stations and suspend load-shedding at 21:00 tonight.”
“Unfortunately, diesel tank levels at three of the four open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) power stations remain low and therefore, Stage 1 load-shedding will be implemented from 05:00 to 21:00 on Friday 19 November” – Eskom said.
Eskom said a unit each at Camden, Komati, Majuba, Tutuka, Matla and Medupi power stations as well as two units at Matimba Power Station was returned to service. One generating unit at Duvha Power Station was taken out of service for boiler tube leak repairs.
Total breakdowns currently amount to 15 605MW while planned maintenance is 3 604MW of capacity.
“We remind customers that load-shedding is implemented as a last resort to maintain the stability of the power system regardless of the stage of load-shedding.” – the power utility said.
Eskom also apologised for the inconvenience caused by the implementation of load-shedding, and requests the public to reduce the usage of electricity in order to help us through the constraints.
Eskom will communicate promptly should there be any significant changes to the power system.
