'Appliances being switched on and off can double your monthly account': Ted Blom explains

Eskom has implemented rotational blackouts since Friday and the power crisis is only getting worse.

READ ALSO: ‘Eskom will hit the wall at the end of March’ - Ted Blom

Ted Blom joined the Breakfast with Martin Bester team on air to discuss what South Africans should brace themselves for in the coming days.

Blom described the current state of Eskom as a real crisis. "Eskom declared a stage 4 load shedding schedule. They only had 18 gigawatts of capacity available for generating power out of a fleet of 46 gigawatts. So that means more than 50% of their units are offline and not in a state of repair."

Do we have a diesel crisis?

"It seems to me that Eskom has run short on the diesel. The supply chain for the diesel comes from the middle east. It takes the ship about five days to arrive in Cape Town and because they are never sure when they will be load shedding, and the fact that they don't have storage is a big problem," Blom told Martin Bester.

A listener sent a question for Ted via our WhatsApp line regarding surged prices when the power goes on after load shedding. Ted mentioned that when appliances switch back on it does cause a surge in the demand for power and you pay a penalty on peak demand, so if it goes up you pay more.

"So yes heavy equipment that surges on and off can more than double your account," he added.

What does Blom predict for Eksom's load shedding schedule? Have a listen:

In a statement released on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that Stage 4 is the level at which the power utility tries to avoid a national blackout.

The country’s defence force has also been called in to assist Eskom technicians to repair the damaged transmission lines in Mozambique.

"The SANDF is also on standby to assist Eskom to transport any equipment that may be required to repair damaged infrastructure on an emergency basis," he said.