Eskom has confirmed that areas provided by the Vaalwater and Dorset substations in Limpopo will expertise an 11-hour energy outage on Wednesday, 1 Might, resulting from emergency upkeep on the Nylstroom-Vaalwater 66kv line. The outage is scheduled from 9:00 to twenty:00 and can have an effect on Vaalwater City, Vaalwater Township, and neighbouring farms.
The ability utility stated this motion is important to make sure the reliability of provide and to stop potential long-term disruptions.
“The protection and well-being of our group and prospects are paramount, and we urge all prospects to deal with all electrical connections as stay throughout this era,” Eskom stated in a press release.
It additionally requested prospects to not log faults in the course of the energy outage.
Eskom upkeep amid system enhancements
The emergency work comes as Eskom continues with its broader upkeep programme forward of the winter season.
“Deliberate upkeep continues to make sure system readiness for elevated winter demand, to satisfy regulatory necessities and to make sure environmental compliance,” the utility stated.
Over the primary 24 days of April 2025, Eskom positioned 7 164MW below deliberate upkeep, amounting to fifteen.32% of whole technology capability—a rise from final 12 months’s 11.52%. On the identical time, the Unplanned Capability Loss Issue (UCLF) has improved to 27.82%, a drop of about 2.1% from the identical interval in 2024.
Progress and gasoline utilization
Eskom famous that between 18 and 24 April, common unplanned energy outages dropped to 13 430MW, 472MW lower than final 12 months.
Eskom additionally revealed that it had spent about R2.19 billion year-to-date on gasoline for Open-Cycle Gasoline Generators (OCGTS), producing 372.05 GWh—greater than double the output in 2024. The utility expects this gasoline utilization to lower as upkeep slows down over winter.
Do you consider Eskom is doing sufficient to arrange for winter and scale back unplanned outages?
Tell us by leaving a remark under or ship a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1.
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