New breakdowns putting power system under strain, Eskom warns

Eskom asked its customers late on Thursday afternoon to reduce their electricity consumption as the power system is "currently constrained".

“Two generation units were forced to shut down over the past 24 hours, adding to those currently on breakdown and on planned maintenance,” the power utility said in a statement.

It said breakdowns amounted to 10,305MW of generation capacity while another 5,903MW was out on planned maintenance.

“Should there be any significant increase in breakdowns, load-shedding may have to be implemented at short notice. Eskom teams are working around the clock to return as many of these generation units to service as possible.”

The utility stressed that it did not plan to implement load-shedding on Thursday evening and Friday but needed electricity use to be reduced.

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