Load shedding to end on Tuesday night 

Power utility Eskom, which implemented load shedding at the eleventh hour on Sunday afternoon, has promised to end load shedding on Tuesday at 10pm. 

Eskom said the last-minute stage 2 load shedding decision was made due to 10 generating units at seven power stations being lost.

Some 6,044MW was lost over 24 hours, which resulted in unplanned lost capacity amounting to 16,118MW. 

Planned maintenance is currently at 4,171MW.

ALSO READ: Eskom’s doing its best to avoid winter load shedding – De Ruyter

“The failure of three generation units at Tutuka was due to loss of air compressors; a unit at Majuba was forced to shutdown, while another unit tripped.

“A generation unit at Kriel was taken down for a boiler tube leak. A unit was forced down due to a steam leak at a unit at Matla power station, while trips at a unit each at Medupi, Kusile and the Duvha power stations are being investigated,” Eskom said on Sunday.

Eskom chief executive officer Andre de Ruyter said on Friday the power utility could not make any promises on avoiding load shedding during the winter. 

“We are doing our utmost best to avoid load shedding this winter,” De Ruyter said.

The Eskom generation system is old and not as reliable as we want it to be, therefore we can’t make promises, we can give the nation the comfort we are doing the best we can.”

De Ruyter is being investigated by the utility on allegations of racism.

This is after suspended chief procurement officer Solly Tshitangano accused De Ruyter of favouring white-owned companies over black-owned companies.