ICYMI: Eskom announces more load shedding for the week

South Africans will unfortunately have to put up with more bouts of load shedding as Eskom has announced that stage 3 of the rolling blackouts will continue to be implemented between 00:00 and 16:00 in the coming week. Stage 4 of load shedding will then kick in for the evening peaks, until midnight.

The embattled parastatal says this will continue at least until Thursday.

“A further update will be published on Wednesday afternoon, or as soon as there are any significant changes,” said Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha.

YOU CAN ALSO READ

• From bad to worse: Load shedding ramped up to Stage 6
• Reminder: Here is what happens during Stage 5 load shedding
• Stage 4 load shedding: What it means & how long the power is gone
• Here we go again! Eskom ramps up power cuts to Stage 4

LOAD SHEDDING CONTINUES FOR THE WEEK

It isn’t clear whether Eskom will continue with the implementation of rolling blackouts beyond Thursday, but the power utility says it is still experiencing problems, which impacts its ability to keep the lights on.

“Eskom is still experiencing constraints from its diesel suppliers that is affecting the availability of bulk diesel to the Ankerlig and Gourikwa Open Cycle Gas Turbines, which have a combined capacity of 2 000MW. While we expect diesel deliveries from Tuesday onwards, should this uncertainty of supply persist, higher stages of loadshedding may be required”

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha

Mantshantsha adds that while some generation units are anticipated to return to service, it is necessary to continue the power cuts to conserve emergency generation reserves.

“Since Friday a generation unit each at Camden and Kriel power stations were taken offline for repairs. Another generating unit each at Kriel and Kusile power stations were returned to service. Eskom apologises for the continued and unfortunate loadshedding, which is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns,” he said.

View the full article