Pretoria: Eskom has declared a power emergency, with the company saying that load shedding might take place if the need arises.

The power utility declared the emergency at 6am on Thursday, and has asked key industrial customers to reduce their load by 10% as of 8am this morning.

“Eskom calls on consumers to urgently switch off geysers, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances this morning to prevent the need for rotational load shedding.

“The power system is very tight. This risk has increased significantly due to the heavy rains over the last few days and an increase in technical problems experienced at some of Eskom’s power stations,” said Eskom.

In the event that load shedding becomes necessary, the utility will use its published load shedding schedules, which are available on the Eskom website (http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/).

Eskom customers can also contact the customer call centre on 0860 037 566.

“Should the demand decrease over this period, load shedding will not be implemented,” the company said.

Today’s power emergency is the fourth one since November 2013.

Speaking at Eskom’s first quarterly state of the electricity system briefing last week, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba encouraged the country to use electricity sparingly.

SOURCE: South African Official News