The power system is constrained this morning and we have been using our emergency resources in order to meet demand. Unplanned outages have been rising over the past few days and were at 14 301 MW as at 08:00 this morning. Our technical teams are working hard to return units that were on planned maintenance and those that experienced breakdowns in order to increase available capacity.

We ran open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) late last night in order to pump water into the dams at our pumped storage schemes. We are currently using these diesel generators to meet demand this morning while waiting for some coal generation units to come back on line. The return of these units will help us reduce usage of emergency resources and give space to replenish them.

We are managing the volatility of our ageing power system by implementing scheduled maintenance and keeping close tabs on units that experience breakdowns. It is important to note that getting back to stability will take some time and we request our customers to work with us by reducing their demand while we work on improving the effectiveness of our maintenance. We are monitoring the system closely and we will continue to give periodic updates on the status of the power system.

Using electricity wisely assists us to avoid or limit the level of loadshedding.

• Set air-conditioners’ average temperature at 23ºC
• Switch off your geysers over peak periods
• Use the cold water tap rather than using the geyser every time
• Set your swimming pool pump cycle to run twice a day, three hours at a time for optimal energy use
• At the end of the day, turn off computers, copiers, printers and fax machines at the switch. Avoid stand-by or sleep mode

Issued by Eskom