Power
Alex to have power restored this evening after switching station explodes
On Sunday, a criminal allegedly gained entry to the switching station attempting to steal copper cables.
Corneleo Keevy says more than 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity.
The utility says if power is used wisely, it will be possible to avoid load shedding.
The power giant will increase its maintenance plans next month due to lower electricity demand.
Over 40,000 households were initially affected by the outages on Thursday.
This has helped stabilise the power supply system and could help prevent load shedding.
The power utility says access to food has a direct impact on productivity.
The initiative will first be tested in Aspen Hills, Gauteng, before being introduced to other areas.
Hermanus, Stanford and Hawston are among the affected areas.
Four executives including the CEO have been asked to step aside as an inquiry takes place.
Eskom says although the grid is stable South Africans should use electricity sparingly.
Eskom will start synchronising one of six units from the Medupi Power Station to the national grid.
Eskom’s Khulu Phasiwe says the money is needed to maintain operational stability.
Demand for power will increase significantly at this stage although it is not expecting any power cuts.
Political parties are calling on independent power producers to help stabilise the national grid.
Eskom says SA is nowhere near a countrywide blackout despite this happening in other countries.
This comes after months of problems at various power stations including the recent collapse of a silo.
Eskom implemented stage 2 load shedding across the country today affecting all businesses.
Eskom has upgraded its load shedding status from stage 2 to stage 3 for the rest of the weekend.