Cape Town - Due to increased electricity demand and a shortage of generation capacity due to power station units being on maintenance, Eskom has implemented stage 1 load shedding and this is likely to continue until 22:00 this evening, Eskom said in a statement on Thursday.
Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said in a Facebook post load shedding was necessitated because of technical breakdowns on some of the power generating machines.
"I'm afraid Eskom has had to implement stage 1 loadshedding (sic) from 6:35 this morning due to technical breakdowns on some of the power generating machines," the post read.
Any unexpected changes on the vulnerable and constrained power system could lead to a change in the load shedding stage at short notice, the power utility warned.
As we are currently experiencing cold weather conditions across the country, we urge electricity users to consider energy efficient ways of keeping warm.
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"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," it said.