Eskom took to social media on Friday to announce it had implemented stage one rolling blackouts.<\/p>\n
“Due to the electricity demand that has exceeded the supply; Eskom implemented load shedding Stage 1 from 11h00 until 22h00 tonight,” it posted on the social media website Twitter shortly before noon.<\/p>\n
“Schedules for Eskom customers are available @ loadshedding.eskom.co.za, municipal customers should obtain their schedules from the munics,” it commented.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the power utility posted on Twitter that the system remained vulnerable, meaning that any extra load or faults might necessitate blackouts.<\/p>\n
At the time, spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said the energy grid was severely constrained because Eskom did not have new generating capacity.<\/p>\n
Generators were breaking down because maintenance had been deferred, and there were unplanned power outages.<\/p>\n
“The power grid is constrained, but Eskom is doing everything to ensure we avoid load-shedding,” he said.<\/p>\n
Phasiwe said Eskom’s financial issues were partly responsible for the country’s rolling blackouts.<\/p>\n
“Eskom does have financial issues. It is true that we are having financial crunch and we are currently in discussion with government to get us out of this financial difficulty.”<\/p>\n
Asked if Eskom’s financial issues were to blame for the rolling blackouts, Phasiwe said: “Partly, I would say yes.<\/p>\n
“We need money to buy parts for the maintenance, but that is not the only reason. Maintenance in the previous years, from about 2010, has been deferred.”<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the risk of power cuts was high after, among other things, two generators failed.<\/p>\n
Eskom said power cuts would be a last resort to prevent a “total collapse” of the system.<\/p>\n
One of the generators had been repaired by Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Phasiwe said the other was still offline and engineers were working on repairing it.<\/p>\n
“To compensate we have brought back to service some of the generating units which were taken off for regular maintenance.”<\/p>\n
On December 5, Eskom implemented stage three load-shedding. Stage one allows for up to 1000MW of the national load to be shed, stage two for up to 2000MW, and stage three for up to 4000MW.<\/p>\n
On December 8, Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona said the country did not have a power supply crisis.<\/p>\n
The load-shedding schedule for your area can be found via the following websites:<\/p>\n
www.eskom.co.za<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n www.loadshedding.eskom.co.za<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n We need more money: Eskom<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Eskom\u2019s Medupi mess puts South Africa at risk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore Eskom news<\/h3>\n