Breakdowns on the increase, but Eskom says it's keeping load shedding at bay

Load shedding is not expected on Friday, but Eskom is using emergency reserves as some generation units have been taken off the grid for emergency repairs, the power utility has said.

In a statement issued on Thursday afternoon, Eskom said generation capacity was being supplemented during peak demand. This followed the stranding of hundreds of thousands of commuters in the Western Cape after Metrorail announced Eskom had disconnected traction supply. 

Eskom had declared Metrorail a "priority user" at the start of load shedding and a cut of traction power was unprecented, it said.

As at 16:15 on Thursday, unplanned outages or breakdowns had increased to 12 195 MW. Planned maintenance stood at 4 427MW. 

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

Compiled by Marelise van der Merwe