Eskom announces power alert just before Easter
Eskom to step up maintenance in preparation for the winter demand.
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MBOMBELA – Eskom said no load shedding is expected this Easter weekend, this autumn and during the coming cold winter.
“We have not had any load shedding for over seven months now, and our prognosis for the rest of the summer going into autumn and winter is that there will be no load shedding.
As part of our planned maintenance programme, Eskom will this upcoming long weekend embark on yet another maintenance festival in order to improve the performance and reliability of our power generating fleet ahead of winter,” said the power utility in a statement.
Eskom said it is implementing appropriate levels of planned maintenance in line with the Generation Sustainability Strategy to ensure long-term plant health. This has resulted in a reduction of the number of plant breakdowns over the past seven months, positively impacting plant availability.
In terms of our existing Generation Sustainability Strategy, our aim is to achieve 80 per cent plant availability, 10 per cent planned maintenance and 10 per cent unplanned maintenance over the medium term. “We urge customers to continue to use electricity sparingly at all times. Those who will be going away over the long weekend are reminded to switch off geysers; never to leave lights burning; and to unplug appliances such as TVs, PVRs and video games. These appliances use electricity even when they are on standby mode,” said Eskom.