Pretoria - Eskom on Tuesday warned that the power system would be tight as a result of the icy weather conditions and called on consumers to use electricity prudently.
"Eskom has revised up its forecast for this evening's peak demand by about 500 MW, with snow and severe cold driving up demand across the country.
"The revised peak demand for this evening is estimated at 35 648 MW, while available capacity (including the open cycle gas turbines) is expected to be 37 398 MW.
"The power system will be tight during the evening peak, particularly from about 5pm to 7pm, and Eskom urges all customers to switch off all non-essential appliances during this time," said the power parastatal.
With severe weather conditions, including strong winds and snow, some of Eskom's transmission and distribution infrastructure in areas such as the Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have been affected. However, Eskom staff and vehicles are on standby.
The power utility has managed to prevent interruptions to power supply in most parts of the country, and it is working to restore power as soon as possible to those areas which have been affected.
Eskom expects peak demand for the rest of the week to be lower due to the public holiday on Thursday and school holiday on Friday.
The peak demand forecast for the rest of the week is 33 738 MW on Wednesday, 33 089 MW on Thursday and 33 085 MW for Friday.
"This week's peak demand is not expected to be as high as the peak demand for the year to date, which was 35 865 MW on 11 June 2012.
"We urge all customers to use electricity prudently and to save at least 10% of their usage. This will make it easier to manage the power system during this challenging time," it said.
