Electricity grid stable after coming under 'severe pressure': Eskom

Eskom said the national electricity grid was stable on Monday evening after warning earlier that it had come under “severe pressure”.

The power utility had urged customers to switch off all non-essential appliances, geysers and unnecessary lights just after 5pm.

Spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha told eNCA that no load-shedding was anticipated but added that electricity was being switched off in some high-density areas where there were many illegal connections.

“We have been battling, particularly in the residential areas of Gauteng — the high-density areas where you have a lot of illegal connections and overloading. When the infrastructure gets overloaded, we get a lot of transformers exploding due to the overload,” he said.

Eskom said in an update after 8pm that the grid was stable.

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said earlier in the month that the power utility expected to implement three days of stage 1 load-shedding in July, when the country enters the height of the winter season.

He told MPs that they expected to implement stage 1 load-shedding during July between 5pm and 8pm to minimise the effect of planned power outages on the economy.