Eskom reports that it will need to shed more than 4000MW to keep the national grid from collapsing.
This means that Eskom will implement additional, unscheduled power cuts wherever it needs to and outside of its schedules. This is apparently due to the loss of an additional 900 MW from the Mozambique imports.
In order to reach its target the electricity utility announced today that Stage 4 loadshedding will probably be introduced from this afternoon (16 March 2019).
Stage four loadshedding means consumers will be scheduled for load shedding 12 times over a four-day period for two hours at a time, or 12 times over an eight-day period for four hours at a time.
Consumers should be geared to handle electricity blackouts at any time without warning. The country hasn’t reached this stage since 2008.
Make sure you charge your cell phone batteries, torch batteries or any other batteries in order to be ready if a power outage lasts into the evening.
If you don’t want to miss todays soccer or rugby matches, make plans to watch them at a local sports bar or restaurant that will probably have generators.
- In many areas of Vanderbijlpark and surrounding townships, residents won’t even be aware of additional loadshedding as they are still without electricity since a substation exploded on Tuesday March 12. Although the Emfuleni Local Municipality restored power to some areas, many other residents are still affected by the outage.
