We remain uncomfortable about the stability of the generating system but will keep the country informed of our progress,’ Eskom said.
Eskom will urgently embark on an in-depth audit of its systems, the board of the power utility said today at a meeting with its executive management and the minister of Public Enterprises.
The board called an urgent meeting with its management and Minister Pravin Gordhan following the unexpected introduction of power cuts at 1pm today.
“The initial schedule was to implement stage 2 load shedding on Monday as a result of generation shortages over the weekend and constraints in diesel supply. However, earlier today, Eskom implemented stage 4 load shedding,” the power utility said in a statement.
The board, which was provided with a detailed analysis about the breakdowns in its new build programme and the older power stations, after the meeting assured South Africans of a systems and operations update within the next 24 hours.
The immediate cause of the problem as well as challenges of the new build and old power stations were under discussion in the meeting that took six hours.
The board said it will undertake an “in-depth audit of the entire system to ensure that every technical problem is understood at a granular level and to avoid unexpected crises as seen today”.
“We remain uncomfortable about the stability of the generating system but will keep the country informed of our progress over the next few days in providing better assurance about electricity supply,” chairperson of the board, Jabu Mabuza, said.
But by this evening “four units had returned to service and it is expected that the remaining three will be back to service by tomorrow morning”, the power utility said.
“We continue to appeal to residents and businesses to use electricity sparingly during this period to assist in reducing demand,” Eskom said.
Source: The Citizen
