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The power system is under stress this morning and we are using diesel generators to meet demand. The units that were expected to come back from maintenance were delayed, which led to diesel generators being used overnight.   While we have adequate emergency reserves to supplement capacity during the day, we may need to implement loadshedding this evening in order to augment diesel and water at our open cycle gas turbines and pumped storage schemes respectively.

Unplanned outages were at 13 063 MW as at 06:30 this morning, slightly up from 12 620 MW yesterday.

We are continuing with our planned maintenance schedule while our teams are also working around the clock to bring back on line units that experienced breakdowns. Keeping generation units breakages below 9 500 MW is part of a plan to manage our ageing fleet and bring stability back into the power system.

We request our customers to work with us by reducing their demand while we work on stabilising the power system. Use electricity smartly while you are at work:

• Use the cold water tap
• Only fill kettles with as much water as you need
• Set air-conditioners’ average temperature at  23ºC
• Turn off computers, copiers, printers at the switch and avoid standby or sleep mode
• Switch off the lights when you leave the office

Issued by Eskom