Eskom ramps up load shedding to stage 4 from 12pm on Sunday

Eskom has announced it will implement stage 4 load shedding from 12pm on Sunday until 5am on Monday.

Load shedding

Stage 3 rolling blackouts will then be implemented from 5am on Monday until 4pm, thereafter increasing to stage 4 until 5am on Tuesday morning.

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“Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 5am on Tuesday until 4pm, thereafter increasing to stage 4 until 5am on Wednesday morning,” the power utility said in a statement.

The parastatal said emergency generation reserves were almost depleted, both the diesel and pumped storage dam levels.

“The higher load shedding stages are required to help build up the emergency generation reserves during the week.”

Breakdowns

Eskom said will it publish a further update as soon as any significant changes occur.

It said during the weekend the breakdown of a generating unit each at Duvha, Kriel and Medupi power stations – as well as the delayed returns of a generating unit each at Camden, Kusile, Komati, and Kendal power stations – exacerbated current generation capacity shortages, forcing the escalation of the power cuts.

“Eskom teams have returned a generating unit each at Grootvlei, Hendrina, Majuba, Matla and Tutuka power stations to service.

“We currently have 6 004MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 961MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.”

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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