Eskom warns weather may cause power interruptions in Western and Eastern Cape

• The South African Weather Services has warned that heavy rain is expected, which will affect parts of the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.
• Eskom warned that the severe weather conditions can affect electricity supply in affected areas.
• Eskom urged customers experiencing interruptions to alert the utility through its chatbot, Alfred, or its contact centre.

Eskom warned that persistent inclement weather conditions in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape could trigger electricity-supply interruptions and urged any customers that experience such interruptions to alert the power utility.

A recent cold front and general cold weather around the country have seen snowfall in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape and the cold is not showing any signs of letting up in the coming days.

In a statement released on Thursday, Eskom said the South African Weather Services (SAWS) had warned of heavy rain and flooding, which is expected to affect parts of the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.

"The severe weather conditions can affect electricity restoration time as well. However, Eskom technicians do attend to faults and restore supply as soon as possible. Eskom urges affected customers to be patient and to treat all electricity appliances as live during this time," the statement said.

The statement said Eskom customers are encouraged to use Alfred, an Eskom customer service chat bot, developed to assist customers with logging electricity faults and feedback without having to call the Eskom contact centre.

"The app allows users to log a fault and immediately provides a reference number needed to track progress on the fault.

"All customers who use the platform will receive an automatic reply stating that Eskom encourages them to use Alfred the chat bot or the MyEskom customer app to log faults and receive a reference number rapidly on the customer's mobile phone," the statement said.

The South African Weather Service issued a weather update on Thursday which noted maximum temperatures of 20 and 21 degrees Celsius in the Western Cape.

The South African Weather Service said the Eastern Cape would also see maximum temperatures of 20 degrees, while minimum temperatures were as low as three degrees.

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