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CAPE TOWN. – Just as South Africans had some sight of relief, power utility Eskom yesterday warned of load shedding at short notice after five units failed, losing over 16000MW of power.

The power utility is urging residents to reduce their electricity consumption as five generating units failed on Tuesday.

“Eskom requests the public to reduce the usage of electricity as the power system is severely constrained following the failure of five generating units,” it said.

The struggling power utility said while no load shedding is currently being implemented, it requested the assistance of the public to use less electricity where possible.

It said five generation units at various power stations had failed throughout the day – three in just two hours.

“Should there be any further loss of generation capacity, load shedding would be required to be implemented at very short notice.

“A generating unit each at Kusile and Majuba power stations were taken offline to repair boiler tube leaks, while a generating unit each at Kriel, Majuba and Matimba power stations tripped,” Eskom said. – IOLNews