Eskom will step up its maintenance plans in preparation for the higher demand in winter, it said on Thursday.

“As part of our planned maintenance programme, Eskom will this upcoming long weekend embark on yet another maintenance festival in order to improve the performance and reliability of our power generating fleet ahead of winter.

“We are implementing appropriate levels of planned maintenance in line with the Generation Sustainability Strategy to ensure long-term plant health. This has resulted in a reduction of the number of plant breakdowns over the past seven months, positively impacting plant availability,” said the power utility.

Eskom said it is progressing well with the maintenance of its power generating plant with the country not having experienced load shedding for over seven months.

“We have not had any load shedding for over seven months now, and our prognosis for the rest of the summer going into autumn and winter is that there will be no load shedding,” it said.

In terms of its existing Generation Sustainability Strategy, Eskom aims is to achieve 80% plant availability, 10% planned maintenance and 10% unplanned maintenance over the medium term.

Eskom urged customers to continue to use electricity sparingly at all times.

“Those who will be going away over the long weekend are reminded to switch off geysers, never to leave lights burning, and to unplug appliances such as TVs, PVRs and video games. These appliances use electricity even when they are on standby mode,” said Eskom