Eskom has said that the risk of load-shedding today (17 January) is low as there is enough capacity to meet the forecasted demand.
The power utility said, “The power system is showing improvement with generation units performing better and the level of breakdowns slowly declining. Unplanned outages were at 11 374MW as at 6am this morning.”
The current performance of the system has allowed Eskom to preserve its emergency resources. “Our teams continue to work to reduce the incidents of breakdowns to below 9 500MW in order to increase available capacity and limit the risk of load-shedding.”
Eskom said that they are monitoring the system closely and will continue to give periodic updates on the status of the power system as things may change at short notice. “We ask customers to continue to use electricity wisely to assist us to avoid or limit the level of load-shedding.”
Eskom urged the customers to always do the following to save electricity when they are at home:
- Always switch off lights in unoccupied rooms.
- Unplug all appliances you are not using.
- Don’t leave computers, TVs, iPads and other electronic devices on standby – if you do these devices use up to 15 per cent of the power they normally use when on.
- Keep curtains and blinds open during the day to optimise natural light and postpone switching on electric lights until it gets dark.
- Open windows and doors to allow a cool breeze to circulate through the house, delay switching on the air-conditioner.
- If you have to switch on the air-conditioner, keep it at a comfortable 23ºC.
Related article:
System looks better today, no load-shedding anticipated for the rest of the week
