HOW many electrical engineers does it take to keep South Africa’s lights on?
It’s not a trick question or a joke – the short answer is six.
And those six engineers play an important role. They’re the ones who run the main control room at the Eskom National Control Centre in Germiston, Gauteng. In other words, they’re the people who make sure loadshedding schedules run according to plan and that we don’t get plunged into perpetual darkness.
For 12 hours a day they each monitor and control how loadshedding rolls out across the country to ensure things run smoothly. Then a new six-person team arrives to start their 12-hour shift, explains Isabel Fick, the general manager of Eskom’s system controls team.
“What we
