Warning for people who use heaters in South Africa

Johannesburg emergency management services are on high alert with the incoming cold front, and spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi has warned that illegal connections can increase the risk of electrical fires.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, he urged community members suspicious of illegal connections to report them.

“We’ve seen that in most of the communities, we have illegal connections, which are not only a danger in terms of fire incidents, but a danger to the kids who might be playing around,” said Mulaudzi.

“Especially in informal settlements, those who don’t have electricity will try to connect themselves illegally.”

He also raised concerns about South Africans leaving heaters on unattended during colder weather, which poses major fire risks.

He said most fire incidents in informal settlements or formal residential areas stem from people leaving their heaters on.

“Most of the common mistakes our residents make are leaving heaters or stoves unattended,” said Mulaudzi.

He explained that many residents use brazier-style paraffin heaters for warmth and often leave them on when they go to bed.

Not only can these heaters emit toxic fumes, but Mulaudzi warned that they also pose a significant fire risk.

“You might have a fire incident because they fall asleep and won’t be able to see what is happening around them,” he said.

“We cannot forget residents using electrical and gas heaters. They also need to ensure safety.”

Mulaudzi said that, during the Johannesburg EMS’s rounds, many residents say they were told their heaters are safer, and can be left unattended while they do laundry, for example.

“There are heaters which people tend to believe are safer. There’s no heater which is safe if it’s unattended,” he stated.

People illegally connecting households and businesses in South Africa strain local electricity grids, which can also result in frequent outages due to network overloading.

In the six months leading up to June 2024, state-owned power utility Eskom replaced 400 transformers damaged by network overloading. It said most overloads stemmed from electricity theft.

The power utility warned that around 2,500 transformers were frequently overloaded and at risk of failing at the time. Just under 1,000 transformers were also isolated and awaiting replacement.

“Overloaded transformers as a result of electricity theft present a serious risk to human life,” said Agnes Mlambo, Eskom’s acting group executive for distribution.

“The time, funds and manpower used to replace these transformers could have been utilised to improve the reliability of our network, electrify more communities, improve the experience of our paying customers, and create more jobs.”

Mulaudzi said people can report suspicious connections using the City of Johannesburg’s hotline on 011 375 5555.

Eskom winter outlook still stands

Despite the sudden onset of stage 2 load-shedding during the evening peaks from Tuesday, 13 May 2025, to Thursday, 15 May 2025, Eskom says its winter outlook presented earlier in May still stands.

The power utility anticipates that no load-shedding will be required if unplanned capacity losses remain below 13,000MW.

Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said the worst-case scenario, where unplanned capacity losses exceed 15,000MW, would require 21 days of up to stage 2 load-shedding.

However, even in its best-case scenario, it will need to burn diesel in its open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) to meet demand.

Assuming unplanned outages remain below 13,000MW, Eskom anticipates spending R700 million on diesel to run its OCGTs until 31 August.

If unplanned losses reach 14,000MW, its OCGT diesel budget will increase to R2.1 billion. This scenario would require one day of stage 1 load-shedding.

Should unplanned losses reach 15,000MW, it will have to increase its diesel spend to R4.8 billion.

However, the sudden onset of load-shedding in mid-May 2025 raised concerns over the winter period, with Impower energy expert Matthew Cruise predicting that stage 4 load-shedding could be required.

He said the losses that necessitated rotational power cuts were problematic, considering South Africa was still in the early winter period.

“Eskom is not giving much detail about what has been going on at the individual power stations,” said Cruise.

“We can actually expect that there’s going to be load-shedding up to stage 4, so we need to prepare for that.”

Moreover, Eskom’s hourly unplanned capacity loss factor and other capacity loss factors trend chart showed that the power utility had already surpassed its worst-case scenario.

The chart showed that the combined losses reached 15,686MW at 23:00 on Monday, 12 May 2025 — 686MW over Eskom’s worst-case scenario.

The combined losses peaked at 16,211MW at 23:00 on Tuesday, 13 May, before gradually declining. Combined unplanned and other losses amounted to 13,033MW at 23:00 on Monday, 19 May.