Load shedding for 4 per cent of SA only

Electricity giant Eskom will implement stage one load shedding from 5pm which is likely to continue until 10pm on Tuesday (21 April)

According to Eskom’s official website “This is due to a shortage of generation capacity as several units are currently out of service due to maintenance. Because of maintenance, the system will not be able to meet 1 000MW of demand, meaning that although certain areas will be without electricity for a certain period, about 96 per cent of South Africans will still continue to receive power supply at the same time.

“Eskom would like to assure customers that load shedding is implemented as a necessary measure to protect the power system and to ensure that maintenance is carried out in order to guarantee that our supply of electricity can be maintained in the long term.

“Eskom calls on all customers to reduce the load on the electricity grid by urgently switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand.

Commercial customers, particularly shopping centres and office blocks, can also make a big difference by switching off non-essential lights and not leaving office equipment such as photocopiers and computers in standby mode after hours.”

Eskom will use the published load shedding schedules which are available on the Eskom website for Eskom customers.

View the latest Randfontein load shedding schedule.