Eskom warns of power cuts
2008-07-23 09:02
Special Report
Eskom is set to seek a 34% hike in electricity tariffs, back from the 88% rise it had been considering due to the global economic slowdown, a newspaper says.
Marelize Barnard
Cape Town - Consumers have been warned of possible unexpected power cuts after unit two at Koeberg nuclear power station was switched off.
Eskom had to switch the unit off on Monday night after a technical fault with power generation.
An Eskom statement said the unit's nuclear reactor was not affected and was being kept stable in accordance with the station's operational procedures.
Charles Kadalie, manager of public lighting for Cape Town, said: "Consumers must dust off their load-shedding schedules. We're at a high-warning stage."
Back in the black
If anything else were to go wrong on the network or if unit one at Koeberg were to give trouble, consumers would be back in the dark.
Kadalie warned people to use electricity extremely sparingly.
Eskom's nuclear-power division manager Tony Stott said on Tuesday that power cuts would probably not be necessary on Tuesday night or Wednesday.
Eskom did maintenance work of power stations in January and February because more electricity was used in winter.
If three or four other generators experience problems or if consumption increases, there will not be enough capacity to provide electricity to the country.
- Die Burger