Following a night of load shedding, the power system is relatively stable today, Eskom said on Friday.
“The power system is relatively stable this morning, with no load-shedding anticipated for the most part of today. Eskom will continue to provide regular updates about the state of the power system,” said Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe in a tweet.
The power utility on Thursday evening commenced with stage 1 load shedding.
In the statement announcing the decision, the power utility cautioned customers to treat all electrical connections as live during this period.
Load-shedding got underway at 5:40pm and was stopped at 7:59pm, with Eskom apologising to customers for the inconvenience caused.
Stage 1 load shedding allows for up to 1 000MW to be shed off the grid, and was implemented as a result of severe power constraints. Acts of intimidation and sabotage, said Phasiwe, resulted in Eskom being unable to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
The power system was constrained as a result of ongoing industrial action, which started with pickets on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, Eskom announced that the generation and distribution of electricity across its network was constrained due to acts of sabotage and intimidation.
At the time, Eskom said there had been several incidents of road blockades, attacks on staff, and wilful damage of electricity infrastructure.
In his reaction, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan called on all parties involved in the Eskom wage talks to allow time for the negotiations to succeed.
The Minister said it is in everyone’s best interest – workers, unions, employers, government and the public – that there is a continuous supply of electricity and that nothing is done to compromise the growth of the economy so that more jobs can be created.
The Department of Public Enterprises said it is making arrangements to engage labour unions on the wage dispute, including the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA).
Workers are disgruntled because Eskom earlier this week announced that there would be a 0% wage increment.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and NUMSA on Tuesday rejected the utility’s wage offer of 0%. Unions, who are demanding a 15% wage increase, staged pickets in response to the 0% increment. - SAnews.gov.za
