Eskom starts load shedding earlier

Johannesburg - Due to the loss of additional generating capacity, Eskom has had to implement stage 1 load shedding sooner than initially communicated on Wednesday.

Stage 1 load shedding was implemented at 16:12 and is likely to continue until 22:00 Wednesday evening, Eskom announced just after 16:30.
                                                
"Eskom would like to assure customers that load shedding is implemented as a necessary measure to protect the power system and to ensure that maintenance is carried out in order to guarantee that our supply of electricity can be maintained in the long term," the power utility said.

It called on all customers to reduce the load on the electricity grid by urgently switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand.

"Commercial customers, particularly shopping centres and office blocks, can also make a big difference by switching off non-essential lights and not leaving office equipment such as photocopiers and computers in standby mode after hours," said Eskom.

Eskom will use the published load shedding schedules which are available on the Eskom website.