There could be intermittent power cuts in several areas on Friday night between 6pm and 9pm that might last for 30 minutes or so, the Transmission System Operator (TSO) has warned.

The cuts are due to due to a breakdown in a production unit at the Dhekelia power station and are expected to take ten days to fix, and more outages could come depending on the daily data, the TSO said.

“Power outages have to be scheduled in order to ensure reliability and avoid instability in the system or overloading of the transmission network,” an announcement said.

The TSO said that it might proactively cut consumer load on a rotating basis between the hours of 6pm and 9pm in some areas of Larnaca, Nicosia and Famagusta on Friday night.

“The duration of the cuts, should they be necessary, are not expected to exceed 30 minutes,” the statement said.

The TSO is appealing to consumers in the three districts to reduce their electricity usage during the period in question in order to cut down on, or even avoid, any necessary outages.

The announcement also said that according to the EAC, it will take ten days to fix the damage.

Because of this, the data of each day will be evaluated separately for possible application of further cuts in the coming days. Timely announcements would be issued.

“TSO apologises in advance for any inconvenience that may be caused, as the safety and reliability of the electricity system is paramount,” it concluded.