Electricity alerts on TV.

National electricity company Eskom has decided to issue colour-coded warnings during television advertising breaks to notify consumers when power supplies are running low, the BBC news website reports. The decision follows recent nationwide power cuts and aims to sensitise consumers about the need to reduce their load during winter, when consumption increases. The alerts, lasting 15 seconds, will include instructions on which appliances to turn off. The colour green represents the all-clear; if orange is shown on the on-screen barometer consumers must turn off swimming pool pumps, dishwashers, tumble driers, kettles and water heaters; and red means that that they should refrain from using stoves and heaters. The alerts are due to begin in late May. The television warnings will also be accompanied by radio announcements in some provinces in an attempt to reduce pressure on South Africas ageing power infrastructure. The situation has been particularly bad in Cape Town where rolling power cuts due to problems at the Koeberg nuclear power station and particularly high demand have disrupted daily life and cost local business and industry billions of rand.