Eskom has indicated that there is a threat of a resumption of load-shedding after the Easter long weekend given its assessment that more than 9 700 MW of capacity is currently “at risk” of tripping in addition to that which is currently unavailable owing to planned or unplanned outages.

Generation executive Phillip Dukashe reported on Thursday that there was a plan to use the space created by the falloff in demand over the public holiday weekend to tackle those units that were currently showing signs of being under strain.

He said some of the work would require the units to be offline for between five and seven days.

“That is why we are worried about next week, particularly the start of next week,” Dukashe said during a briefing.

CEO Andre de Ruyter reported that Stage 2 load-shedding was still expected to be suspended at 5:00 on Friday April 15, but that load-shedding would continue on Thursday night, despite an expectation that peak demand would decline by about 2 000 MW to about 27 183 MW as the long weekend began.

He said efforts would be made over the weekend to replenish diesel reserves at Ankerlig and Gourikwa, in the Western Cape, as well as at its pumped storage plants.

De Ruyter admitted that the position at its pump-storage schemes was “not where we would like it to be”.

“Drakensberg has 77 hours left to pump to fully replenish the dam, which is more than we would have liked.”

The Ingula scheme, meanwhile, had been affected by the heavy rains over KwaZulu-Natal, leaving both the upper and lower dams full.

“Over the weekend, we will be releasing water, in a responsible manner, bearing in mind that the Ingula wetland area has been declared a Ramsar heritage site.

“So we're very aware of our environmental responsibility and we will do everything that we can to avoid damage.

“[But] we will slowly release water in order to create space in the lower dam for additional storage.”