Pretoria- Power Utiility Eskom says it is using this weekend to embark on a massive maintenance drive in an effort to improve the performance and reliability of its power generating units, ahead of the expected peak winter demand.
The power utility said the focus of the maintenance programme is on reducing the backlog of power generating units that are currently offline due to technical faults.
Eskom said it had no planned load-shedding for Saturday evening as it has adequate generating capacity to meet the demand.
“The power system continues to remain significantly constrained. Eskom will use its emergency reserves, open-cycle gas turbines and pumped storage schemes to augment capacity while the maintenance drive is underway,” said Eskom.
It called on all customers to reduce the load on the electricity grid by switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand.
“As the nights begin to get colder, we request electricity users to consider energy efficient ways of keeping warm." -SAnews.gov.za
