Eskom asks customers to reduce demand as likelihood of power cuts grows

19th February 2020 By: News24Wire

 Eskom asks customers to reduce demand as likelihood of power cuts grows

Photo by: Bloomberg

Eskom has warned of an increased possibility of power cuts later on Wednesday after it lost additional generation capacity due to unplanned breakdowns at some of its power plants. 

While the utility is not currently implementing load-shedding, it urged customers to keep reducing demand and use electricity sparingly.

Unplanned outages increased to 11 249MW on Wednesday morning from 10 868 MW on Tuesday afternoon.

"We remind customers that the system remains vulnerable and that load-shedding can be implemented at short notice if there are any additional changes in the system performance," it said.

The cash-strapped utility has warned of an increased likelihood of power cuts over the next 18 months as it conducts maintenance on its fleet of ageing power plants.