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No load shedding is anticipated today as Eskom intends to meet the country’s electricity demands while performing the requisite maintenance on its power generating plants.

Eskom successfully completed 5 620 self-funded electrification connections as well as 1 080 farm dweller connections in the 2014/15 financial year.

In addition, together with Department of Energy (DoE), Eskom has connected more than 4.6 million households to the distribution network since 1991. Although DoE funded the connections, Eskom carries the ongoing operational costs and receives revenue for electricity sold.

For South Africans living at the turn of the 19th century, the introduction of electricity must have been as exciting a development as the internet is to our generation today. The good town's people of Kimberley were the first in Africa to experience the joys of electric streetlights (1882), and they even managed to beat London to it.

And following the election of a democratic government, access to electricity increased from 35% of households in 1990 to 84% in 2011, according to Statistics South Africa 2012.

Eskom is building new power stations and high voltage power lines to meet South Africa’s growing energy demand. The electrification programme is now also being implemented in more remote areas, where the construction of network infrastructure is more expensive due to the distances involved and, in some cases, the difficult terrain encountered.

We will continue to provide regular updates on the state of the power system through various media platforms.

Issued by Eskom