Not only was the weather bleak but so was the mood. An unexpected black-out hit Dundee at 4pm yesterday even though according to Eskom’s own website, load shedding in Dundee had been scheduled for 4pm on Monday.
Glencoe was scheduled to have been switched off from 2pm to 4.30pm on Sunday. This did not happen. Local businesses, especially accommodation establishments catering for groups of tourists, had to think on their feet to ensure that the food stayed warm.
The country-wide black-outs have been caused after a silo at its Majuba power station in Mpumalanga carrying about 10 000 tons of coal became fractured before collapsing on Saturday.
The power utility’s Andrew Etzinger says this has put their grid under immense pressure.
He says they have had to resort to planned load shedding while engineers try to find the cause of the fracture.
At different times of the day different areas will be affected. That’s how the load shedding schedule is designed,” he said.
“In all likelihood every suburb in South Africa will have a two-hour slot. We’ve started implementing load shedding and it’s done according to the schedule on our website – loadshedding.eskom.co.za.”
“The schedule is also available through our call centre which can be reached on 086 003 7566,” he added.
According to the Eskom schedule power will go off today, Monday, between 4pm and 6,30pm, on Wednesday from 6am to 8.30am and on Friday between midday and 2.30pm, Saturday and Sunday appear to be ‘fine’.
In Glencoe, the Eskom schedule says the power will be turned off on Tuesdays from 6am to 8.30am, Thursdays from 8am to 10.30am and on Saturday from 2pm to 4.30pm. However, with yesterday’s change it appears as if the schedule can also change. Watch the website for updates and.or call the
Eskom call Centre number 0860037566
