Stage 6 load shedding returns on Monday

Another week of power cuts is on the cards for South Africans as Eskom announced that the week would begin with Stage 6 load shedding. 

In an announcement published on Sunday, Eskom confirmed that Stage 6 load shedding would be implemented on Monday afternoon and it would be followed by “varying stages of load shedding during the week.” 

“As the generation capacity shortages persist over the next few weeks, load shedding will continue to be implemented at various stages.”

The power utility further cautioned the public that it “will still take a few weeks for the power generation system to fully recover to pre-strike levels.” 

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The return in power generation capacity also depends on a variety of factors including the return of the striking workforce who are needed to perform some much-needed repairs. 

“It is anticipated that load shedding will gradually be lowered to Stage 2 by the weekend,” said Eskom in a statement before promising to communicate and implement any changes as may be necessary. 

Load shedding plan for the week

Sunday: Stage 4 until midnight
Monday: Stage 2 until 5am, Stage 4 between 5am and 4pm, Stage 6 from 4pm to 10pm, Stage 4 between 10pm and midnight
Tuesday: Stage 2 load shedding from midnight to 5am, Stage 4 between 5am and 4pm, Stage 5 between 4pm and 10pm and Stage 4 until midnight

An update regarding the planned power cuts for the rest of the week is expected to be communicated at a later stage.

At the time of writing, Eskom said it had 3,384MW of planned maintenance with another 18,319MW unavailable due to the breakdowns.

The power utility concluded by thanking “all workers who have reported for duty and who continue to perform diligently under extremely challenging circumstances.”

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