Low risk of load shedding on Election Day, says Eskom

Eskom is not anticipating a need to implement load shedding at any stage on the day that South Africa goes to the polls for national and provincial elections next week.

On Monday afternoon, Eskom’s spokesperson on matters related to station capacity and load shedding, Andrew Etzinger, told Fin24 the power utility remained vigilant for risks to grid stability.

Earlier this month, Eskom executives, along with the Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, briefed the country on the status of load shedding, saying it would keep load shedding at Stage 1 over the next few months, should it occur.

Eskom has, however, previously warned that cold weather conditions increases the risk of load shedding, as electricity demand increases.

Etzinger told Fin24 that considerable contingency systems were in place to allow the general elections to go by without any incident of load shedding.

“[The] system [is] in good shape, so [there is a] low probability of load shedding in the run-up to [the] election.

“On the election day itself, we don’t expect load shedding due to a number of contingencies that Eskom has put in place,” said Etzinger.

Asked about risks posed by Cyclone Kenneth – reportedly the strongest tropical storm ever recorded in Mozambique – on the grid, Etzinger said no impact was expected due to its northward trajectory, “but we remain vigilant”.