Newcastillians can expect to be left in the dark this evening. That is if the community does not heed Eskom’s urgent appeal.
Eskom is currently urging the public to continue reducing electricity usage, to help minimise the chances of further power outages.
“Eskom wishes to assure the public, that implementing loadshedding is the last resort, in order to protect the national grid,” the power utility stressed.
This appeal follows Eskom issuing a statement, whereby Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented throughout the country in order to reduce the demand on the grid. The loadshedding effectively began this morning at 8 am and will continue until 10 pm.
The cause of the loadshedding is due to an increase in plant breakdowns, which took place during the course of the night and the early hours of this morning.
There has been a delay of service returning to units at Duvha, Tutuka, Kriel and Kendal. These units removed more than 2 000MW of capacity from the system. The Eskom team is currently working on the issue.
As the power utility addresses the breakdowns, the generating plant continues to perform at low levels of reliability. This can potentially see an unexpected shift in unplanned breakdowns. This means the stage of loadshedding can change at short notice.
In fact, Eskom warns there is a high possibility the situation may escalate to Stage 3 during the peak hours of this evening.
To reduce the negative impact, Newcastle Municipality has issued a statement, stating bigger customers will be asked to reduce their electricity consumption load. Furthermore, geysers will be switched off.
“Should that process not succeed, power will be switched off as per the municipality zone schedule, after an alert has been communicated with residents,” said Mlungisi Khumalo, Newcastle Municipality Head of Communications.
Khumalo adds the Newcastle Municipality apologises for any inconvenience caused. Joining Eskom’s appeal, the Newcastle Municipality is urging residents to use electricity sparingly.
Will Newcastillians unite and use electricity sparingly in order to prevent a collective issue for all? Or will we contribute to Stage 3 loadshedding? All we know is that within the next few hours, we will all know the answer.
Author: Quinton Boucher
Edited: Calvin Swemmer
