Eskom moves to stage 6 load shedding following problems at Medupi
Eskom's emergency response command centre and technical teams will be working throughout the night
A technical problem at Medupi Power Station has forced Eskom to switch to stage 6 load shedding from 6pm on Monday evening.
At this stage it is uncertain how this will affect residents.
Stage 6 load shedding to be implemented today from 18h00. We apologies to the residents of Ekurhuleni in advance as I don’t know what @Eskom_SA mean now🙈🙈🙈
— Mzwandile Masina (@mzwandileMasina) December 9, 2019
“We regret and sincerely apologise that stage 4 load shedding will move to stage 6 load shedding as a result of a shortage of capacity. This follows a technical problem at Medupi Power Station impacting additional generation supply. The heavy rain has caused coal handling and operational problems at several power stations,” Eskom said in a statement released a short while ago.
“We remind and assure customers that load shedding at stage 6 is no cause for alarm as the system is being effectively controlled. Stage 6 requires 6000MW to be rotationally shed.”
Eskom’s emergency response command centre and technical teams will be working throughout the night to restore units as soon as possible. Eskom is also working closely with large industry to assist with further load curtailment.
Load shedding is a responsible act and highly controlled process, implemented to protect the country from a national blackout, added Eskom.
“After 2015, Eskom and the municipalities identified the need to extent the load shedding stages up to stage 8 and the national code (NRS048-9 Ed 2) was subsequently updated. Even beyond these schedules, the System Operator will reduce demand in a manner that is controlled.
