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Rolling blackouts hit the Tshwane Metro area and other cities across the country on Tuesday as Eskom tried to avoid a national blackout by load-shedding.
The cold and wet conditions put extra demand on the network at a time when Eskom's generators are undergoing maintenance.
The Tshwane Metro Council said load-shedding would be rotated throughout the city for two to three hours per area until Eskom's capacity was normalised.
People who had been injured in accidents had to be airlifted to hospitals as the roads were congested, with traffic lights not working.
Lifemed paramedic Hugo Minnaar said one injured patient who was involved in a biking accident in La Montagne had to be airlifted to Pretoria Academic hospital because of heavy traffic.
Netcare spokesperson Nick Dollman said: "We had to airlift the 22-year-old patient because he was severely injured.
"Fire-fighters had to close off Albertus Road for the helicopter to land. He underwent surgery for multiple fractures."
A government minister in Pretoria said meetings had to be re-scheduled while some were cut short due to the power outages.
A number of businesses without generators were also disrupted as operations ceased for a few hours while Eskom was load-shedding.
Outraged restaurant owners were also affected by the blackouts.
Japie Meyer, owner of Cynthia's near Menlyn, said they were forced to cancel all their reservations.
A manager of Spur in Centurion, William Bradfield said: "We were affected for about three hours. We could not take customers because we cannot operate without electricity."
Residents of Faerie Glen and Garsfontein also complained of sporadic power outages.
A large part to the east of General Louis Botha Avenue was in darkness for much of the evening. One irate Garsfontein resident said that at one point the power came back on only to go off again after five minutes.
Angry residents clogged the Metro Council's telephone lines demanding to know when their power would be restored.
"What has happened is that in summer we traditionally conduct planned maintenance to our power stations. This is because electrical demand is usually lower than in winter. But with the gloomy weather conditions people are using more lighting equipment and heaters," said Andrew Etzinger, a general manager at Eskom. He said heavy rains in Mpumalanga, where most of Eskom's coal-fired stations are situated, had also contributed to the problem.
"There are wet coal conditions, which means the stations are not producing the power they should," Etzinger said. Five out of the 10 coal-fired power stations in Mpumalanga are affected.
Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu pleaded with consumers to use electricity sparingly in order to reduce demand and assist in minimising load shedding. "The demand for electricity during the day has also risen since people are using heaters because it was cold," he said.
The Metro Council said the order to start load shedding in Tshwane would be communicated at short notice and would be rotated throughout the city for two to three hours per area until capacity normalised.
Between 11am and 1pm yesterday the substations shut down were Wolmer; Mamelodi I, II and III; Willows; Wingate; Eldoraigne; Raslouw and Brakfontein.
Between 1pm and 3pm it was the turn of Wapadrand, Mooikloof, Swartkops, Claudius, Zebra, Gomsand, Orchards and Hartbeespoort substations. In the afternoon Hatfield, Brooklyn, Garsfontein, Sunnyside, Centurion, Arcadia and the city centre also experienced "controlled" power cuts.
The Metro said if areas normalised and power remained off, the electricity help desk could be contacted on 012 339 9111 or 080 1111 556.
Council spokesperson Console Tleane said: "Because Eskom was short of 220 000 megawatts they approached us to shed the load until their generators could support them. These are controlled outages that we hope won't affect people for long."
Zulu said businesses were requested to turn off all non-essential lighting and office equipment during the day and overnight.
Residential consumers are encouraged to heed the request of "power alerts" and the call to use electricity with care.
"Please keep lights off in rooms which are not occupied. Use hot water sparingly. Switch off geysers when you get home from work, during the electricity peak period, and switch them back on later before you go to bed. Switch off appliances," Zulu said.
For any electricity problems contact Eskom's Customer Contact Centre on 086 003 7566. Get additional energy saving tips on Eskom's website: www.eskom.co.za
n Heavy rains are set to continue over Gauteng for the next two days, the SA Weather Services said.
"There will be showers over the weekend and I can't rule out the possibility of heavy rains," said forecaster Evert Scholtz. Some parts of the country would also have snowfalls. Between 8am on Monday and 8am yesterday the Pretoria CBD received 55.5mm of rain
The cold and wet conditions put extra demand on the network at a time when Eskom's generators are undergoing maintenance.
The Tshwane Metro Council said load-shedding would be rotated throughout the city for two to three hours per area until Eskom's capacity was normalised.
People who had been injured in accidents had to be airlifted to hospitals as the roads were congested, with traffic lights not working.
Lifemed paramedic Hugo Minnaar said one injured patient who was involved in a biking accident in La Montagne had to be airlifted to Pretoria Academic hospital because of heavy traffic.
Netcare spokesperson Nick Dollman said: "We had to airlift the 22-year-old patient because he was severely injured.
"Fire-fighters had to close off Albertus Road for the helicopter to land. He underwent surgery for multiple fractures."
A government minister in Pretoria said meetings had to be re-scheduled while some were cut short due to the power outages.
A number of businesses without generators were also disrupted as operations ceased for a few hours while Eskom was load-shedding.
Outraged restaurant owners were also affected by the blackouts.
Japie Meyer, owner of Cynthia's near Menlyn, said they were forced to cancel all their reservations.
A manager of Spur in Centurion, William Bradfield said: "We were affected for about three hours. We could not take customers because we cannot operate without electricity."
Residents of Faerie Glen and Garsfontein also complained of sporadic power outages.
A large part to the east of General Louis Botha Avenue was in darkness for much of the evening. One irate Garsfontein resident said that at one point the power came back on only to go off again after five minutes.
Angry residents clogged the Metro Council's telephone lines demanding to know when their power would be restored.
"What has happened is that in summer we traditionally conduct planned maintenance to our power stations. This is because electrical demand is usually lower than in winter. But with the gloomy weather conditions people are using more lighting equipment and heaters," said Andrew Etzinger, a general manager at Eskom. He said heavy rains in Mpumalanga, where most of Eskom's coal-fired stations are situated, had also contributed to the problem.
"There are wet coal conditions, which means the stations are not producing the power they should," Etzinger said. Five out of the 10 coal-fired power stations in Mpumalanga are affected.
Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu pleaded with consumers to use electricity sparingly in order to reduce demand and assist in minimising load shedding. "The demand for electricity during the day has also risen since people are using heaters because it was cold," he said.
The Metro Council said the order to start load shedding in Tshwane would be communicated at short notice and would be rotated throughout the city for two to three hours per area until capacity normalised.
Between 11am and 1pm yesterday the substations shut down were Wolmer; Mamelodi I, II and III; Willows; Wingate; Eldoraigne; Raslouw and Brakfontein.
Between 1pm and 3pm it was the turn of Wapadrand, Mooikloof, Swartkops, Claudius, Zebra, Gomsand, Orchards and Hartbeespoort substations. In the afternoon Hatfield, Brooklyn, Garsfontein, Sunnyside, Centurion, Arcadia and the city centre also experienced "controlled" power cuts.
The Metro said if areas normalised and power remained off, the electricity help desk could be contacted on 012 339 9111 or 080 1111 556.
Council spokesperson Console Tleane said: "Because Eskom was short of 220 000 megawatts they approached us to shed the load until their generators could support them. These are controlled outages that we hope won't affect people for long."
Zulu said businesses were requested to turn off all non-essential lighting and office equipment during the day and overnight.
Residential consumers are encouraged to heed the request of "power alerts" and the call to use electricity with care.
"Please keep lights off in rooms which are not occupied. Use hot water sparingly. Switch off geysers when you get home from work, during the electricity peak period, and switch them back on later before you go to bed. Switch off appliances," Zulu said.
For any electricity problems contact Eskom's Customer Contact Centre on 086 003 7566. Get additional energy saving tips on Eskom's website: www.eskom.co.za
n Heavy rains are set to continue over Gauteng for the next two days, the SA Weather Services said.
"There will be showers over the weekend and I can't rule out the possibility of heavy rains," said forecaster Evert Scholtz. Some parts of the country would also have snowfalls. Between 8am on Monday and 8am yesterday the Pretoria CBD received 55.5mm of rain
Anyone here affected by this? Pretty appalling that this was done during rush hour. I heard that some areas were also without electricity for 4 hours+.
Ahhhh, what a pleasant nights sleep!
