Cape Town - Eskom announced that it would implement stage 1 load shedding from 16:00 to 22:00 on Thursday.
This is due to increased electricity demand and a shortage of generation capacity resulting from technical faults at some of our power station units, Eskom explained.
Load shedding planner: GridWatch
This may spell a gloomy start for millions of South African Muslims on the first day of the month of Ramadaan. Muslims across the globe started fasting on Thursday, abstaining among others from food, drink and sexual intercourse between dawn and dusk as one of the five pillars of Islam.
The risk of a total power blackout in South Africa at any point in future is “out of the question”, acting Eskom CEO Brian Molefe said on Wednesday.
“The prospect of a blackout is virtually non-existent,” he told reporters in Johannesburg during a briefing on the state of the power system.
Eskom said in its standard message on Thursday 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.
Any unexpected changes on the vulnerable and constrained power system could lead to a change in the load shedding stage at short notice.
"As we are currently experiencing cold weather conditions across the country, we urge electricity users to consider energy efficient ways of keeping warm."