BHP Billiton

BHP BILLITON suffered power interruptions at its Mozal aluminium smelter in Mozambique as well as its Hillside and Bayside smelters in South Africa because power utility, Eskom, could not cope with electricity demand, said Dow Jones citing the company.

Potlines at all three smelters have been shed (interrupted) in the past few days in line with contractual agreements. One potline at Mozal was shed for about 40 minutes (Wednesday) night," a BHP spokesperson told Dow Jones.

Eskom said: "Clearly the system demand is growing daily due to the cold weather, which puts tremendous pressure on the already tight electricity supply system. We have only so much generating capacity; therefore the only solution is to reduce the demand."