ESKOM says it could be forced to introduce load shedding at short notice, due to capacity losses and the cold weather.
The embattled power utility said that its systems are severely constrained on Thursday (22 July) and it expects to come under further pressure in the evening as demand increases.
“Eskom would therefore like to appeal to the public to reduce the usage of electricity in order to help ease the pressure on the system between 16h00 and 21h00.
“Breakdowns currently total 12,984MW while planned maintenance is 2,924MW of capacity. Any further significant loss of capacity would force Eskom to implement load shedding in order to protect the integrity of the system.”
Data published by professional services firm PwC this week shows that load shedding will halve South Africa’s GDP growth this year and cost the country 275,000 in potential jobs.
The group said that South Africa experienced 859 hours
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