Grid stable as winter begins – Eskom

No loadshedding is foreseen in the immediate future, but as demand rises in winter, the national power grid will inevitably be put under pressure, Eskom spokesperson on load shedding, Andrew Etzingner, told Fin24. 

Eskom has managed to reduce the number of unplanned plant failures by more than half, from more than 12 000 MW to 5 250 MW over the Easter weekend. 

Etzinger told Fin24 that the grid has been more stable recently and he does not foresee load shedding being a problem, despite the approaching winter.

“System is stable; no load shedding foreseen. However, peak demand is steadily increasing as we approach winter, which puts the grid under pressure, especially between 5pm and 9pm each day,” said Etzinger via WhatsApp.

Voting in the dark? That wasn’t load shedding

Social media saw its share of jokes about load shedding on May 8, but according to Eskom, that’s all it was. Load shedding did not take place anywhere in the country on election day, Etzinger said.

Etzinger told Fin24 that instances where voters had to cast their ballots in the dark, in areas such as Ulundi, Zululand; Umbilo, Durban; and Katilumla, Lusikisiki were not as a result of load shedding, but because of network faults at a municipal level.

“No load shedding took place yesterday. Outages at specific network points would be the result of network faults in municipal or Eskom supply areas,” said Etzinger.