Eskom said on Friday that unplanned breakdowns at its power stations are above 13GW, but it said no load shedding is expected due to reduced holiday demand for electricity.

“Breakdowns are at 13 154MW as at 6.30am this morning,” the state-owned utility said in a statement.

“Our technical teams will continue to work over the holiday period to monitor the situation, carry out planned maintenance and to work at reducing unplanned breakdowns to below 9 500MW to enable us to minimise the possibility of load shedding,” it said.

It asked customers to reduce demand as a “concerted collective effort” to help avoid power cuts.

“Eskom will continue to use emergency reserves to supplement capacity if necessary over this period,” it said.

“However, we remind customers that as the system continues to be vulnerable and unpredictable, the possibility of load shedding remains.” — (c) 2019 NewsCentral Media