Eskom today said that pre-emptive load shedding measures over the past two weeks have allowed the country to avoid a national blackout.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks the national power grid has been strained due to ailing diesel reserves, wet weather conditions and much needed maintenance at power stations.<\/p>
An example of this pre-emptive load shedding was experienced by many residents this weekend, this time due to general upkeep measures at the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power station in Mozambique.<\/p>\n
While Eskom says it hopes this weekend’s load shedding was the last for the year, more maintenance can be expected during the festive season.<\/p>
The power utility\u2019s Andrew Etzinger says, \u201cHeading into the festive period, we will be doing a lot of maintenance, although the demand for electricity will be lighter as well.<\/p>\n
“All in all, I think on balance we\u2019ll do our best to avoid load shedding but we can\u2019t rule it out unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eskom says it\u2019s built up enough reserves to meet this week’s energy demands.<\/p>\n
It says that public consumption will dictate whether or not more load shedding will be rolled out this week.<\/p>\n
Etzinger says, \u201cAs to whether the reserves last the entire coming week will depend on the extent that they need to be run in that week.<\/p>\n
“That is where we\u2019re continuing to urge business and home owners to please use electricity very sparingly.\u201d<\/p>\n