Power grid constrained: Eskom

There were no power cuts expected on Tuesday morning although the electricity grid was constrained, Eskom said.

"The system is constrained. We expect some of the generating units back during the day, however should anything unexpected happened we will go into load shedding," Eskom's media desk said.

The power utility implemented stage one of load shedding on January 9, due to high electricity demand and the unavailability of some of its generating units.

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.

Last Thursday, Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona said government shared responsibility with Eskom for the power problems gripping the country.

"The government co-owns the problem because some of the factors that led us into the situation have to do with policy," he told reporters.

This included electricity pricing set by the National Energy Regulator of SA.

Matona reiterated that the country's power supply would remain severely constrained in the coming months while Eskom dealt with its maintenance backlog.

He said maintenance had been neglected in recent years and at times was deferred to keep the lights on.

In February 900 megawatts would be taken off the grid when one of Koeberg nuclear power station's units would undergo maintenance.