On March 18, eighteen generators of South Africa's largest electricity supplier Eskom went offline, while several more began running on reduced capacity, causing panic in the country.
Commenting on these developments, an Eskom official stated that the company could not say if the power cut had affected any of its industrial consumers, but did not exclude this possibility.
Meanwhile, the market rumors say that electricity supply to South Africa's mines might be cut off if more generators fail because of the bad weather conditions.
"The cold and wet weather has increased the demand for electricity and adversely affected coal handling at the power stations," the company said in its statement. In addition, Eskom has asked all users to try to cut back their electricity consumption.
Meanwhile, the current power outage in South Africa may once again force the country's steel and mining sector to declare force majeure on their deliveries.