South Africans in for a shock as Eskom announces Stage 2 load shedding from tonight
The blackout was necessary to preserve emergency generation reserves in preparation for higher demand expected during January, as economic activity resumed, the power utility said.
Eskom has announced load shedding on Tuesday evening, putting another damper on South Africans’ festive spirits.
This comes hours after the government announced a return to level 3 lockdown, following a surge in positive Covid-19 cases.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said stage 2 load shedding would be implemented starting at 22:00 on Tuesday, until 05:00 tomorrow.
This will be repeated on Wednesday night. Mantshantsha said this round of load shedding was necessary to preserve emergency generation reserves in preparation for higher demand expected during January, as economic activity resumed.
“During this period, Eskom will continue to pursue increased reliability maintenance as planned and previously communicated.
“We currently have 9 745MW on planned maintenance, while another 11 346MW capacity is unavailable due to unplanned maintenance.”
He said Eskom teams were working “around the clock” to return as many of the units to service as soon as possible. “Eskom will communicate timeously should there be any significant changes to the power system.”
Eskom requested consumers to use electricity sparingly “in order to help us limit the load shedding”.
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