Eskom Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality

Image via Adobe Stock

Eskom: ‘Our power system is under severe pressure’

Eskom is urgently appealing to the public to assist them to keep the lights on by turning off unnecessary electrical appliances.

Eskom Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality

Image via Adobe Stock

Power supplier Eskom releases a disturbing tweet on Wednesday evening in which they urgently asked South Africans to switch off any unnecessary appliances and electric fixtures because the “power system is under immense pressure”. 

This is the second notice the embattled company has put out in the last 24-hours, suggesting that the need for energy in the grid to be conserved is reaching critical levels of urgency. 

‘Turn off unnecessary electrical appliances’ – Eskom

The tweet warned that “unnecessary lights, your geyser, pool pump and non-essential appliances” should be turned off effective immediately in order to save power. 

“Our power system is under severe pressure,” the tweet ominously read. 

Eskom said late on Tuesday 26 May that they had managed to stabilise the grid after sending out an announcement similar to today’s tweet hours earlier, and now it seems as if this kind of plea will become a regular fixture on our evening socials. 

Broken promises already?  

Eskom got everyone’s hope up this week when they vowed to only implement a maximum of three load shedding fixtures over the entire winter, but those promises seem likely to be broken before they had time to settle. 

With the advent of alert level 3 lockdown restrictions only days away, the latest trouble with the grid could intensify as more and more people start heading back to work and using more power. 

Meaniwhile, residents in the Gauteng Emfuleni municipality, including the neighbourhoods of Sonlandpark, Langerand, Falconridge, Vandermerweskroon, Helenasrus and Houtkop Plots were warned that their power would be affected on Thursday 28 May from 9:00 until 16:30. 

“No guarantee can be given that the supply will remain off for the duration of the shutdown and therefor, all electrical circuits and appliances should be treated as LIVE at all times,” said the official municipal Twitter account.