Save electricity, urges Eskom

Eskom customers in Gauteng are urged to use electricity sparingly and efficiently.
The call by Eskom follows a rise in network overloading incidents which lead to sporadic and continuous power supply interruptions.
To help alleviate the network from the unsustainable pressure, electricity users are advised to switch off geysers, stoves, heaters and other non-essential equipment during peak hours (between 05:00 and 09:00 and between 17:00 and 22:00).
The power utility has also warned against illegal electricity-related activities, as these contribute immensely to network failure.
Eskom is experiencing extensive supply interruptions across Gauteng as a result of failed electricity infrastructure due to network overloads caused by unauthorised operations, illegal connections, meter tampering and bypasses and equipment vandalism.
In Soweto and Orange Farm, various communities have embarked on protests where roads are barricaded, leaving Eskom technicians with no access to the areas.
“The road closures are interfering with our efforts to restore supply in the affected areas. Preventing us access to such areas causes delays in restoration of supply to customers,” said Mashangu Xivambu, Gauteng cluster senior manager in maintenance and operations.
“This also poses a safety risk to our employees. Our employees will not operate in areas where their safety may be compromised.
“We, therefore, appeal to communities in these areas to cooperate with us by clearing roads and to not interfere with our operations on site.
“To avoid frequent and prolonged outages, we advise our communities to take care of the infrastructure that supplies them with electricity by refraining from all illegal activities that lead to the network failure.”
Customers are encouraged to buy legal electricity tokens and to pay for their consumption.
Those found to have contraventions will be disconnected and issued with reconnection fines which have to be paid in full before the supply is restored.