No blackout this winter assures Eskom

Eskom’s Acting Chief Executive Brian Molefe assured South Africa that there will be no blackout this winter.

“We are happy to announce that the prospect of a blackout in South Africa is non existent… There is no prospect of a blackout in South Africa which represents a total system collapse,” Molefe said in a media briefing on the quarterly state of the system in Johannesburg.

“Even when we have load shedding we are able to provide electricity to 96 percent of the country. At least 96 percent of the time electricity was available. What we are going to try and do now is maintenance with no load shedding.”

He said cold weather had increased the demand of electricity and maintenance had also put a strain on an already strained system that is already under pressure.

“We anticipate to supply 100% of electricity most days and 96% during peak periods from 6am to 10am and 5pm to 10pm”

Molefe said during this winter, there would be a three time increase in maintenance than in winter 2014.

“Every effort is being made to reduce plant breakdowns (unplanned maintenance)”

“Eskom intends to do maintenance with limited load shedding,” he said.

Molefe urges all electricity users to continue using electricity sparingly in order to allow Eskom enough space to continue with the requisite maintenance.