Eskom warns of stage 5 load shedding or higher

Eskom has warned that it could ramp up load shedding to stage five or higher due to a number of factors.  

The princes of darkness were briefing the media on Friday on the current system challenges, which have resulted in load shedding.

The parastatal announced on Friday morning that load shedding will be escalated from stage 2 to stage 4 power cuts.

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The dark lords of Megawatt Park said stage 4 load shedding would be implemented from 11am until midnight on Friday.

On Saturday and Sunday, stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 5am until midnight.

Chief Operating Officer [COO] for Eskom Jan Oberholzer said stage four could be ramped up to stage five if staff are non-compliant.

Oberholzer said the parastatal has experienced intimidation and other forms of illegal action preventing some Eskom employees who want to do an “honest days job” from being able to do so.

“As a precaution, we have ramped down the generators to lower levels of output and that is to limit the impact should they trip and to slow down the coal handling to manageable levels.”

“Now, Eskom cautions, unfortunately we have to, to the public that should these criminal acts of intimidation and illegal strike action persist or spread, this would increase the risk of operational disturbances and the implementation of load shedding at higher levels,” said Oberholzer.

Oberholzer has also appealed to the unions to think of the country and the challenges Eskom is currently facing.

“Now Eskom appeals to its labour partners and striking employees to embrace the higher purpose of putting the people of South Africa first, to respect the law and to desist from illegal and undemocratic conduct.”

Oberholzer has also appealed again to South Africans to use electricity sparingly while it deals with a “delicate and very challenging situation” it’s currently facing.

Stage 5 load shedding will see 5,000MW being shed, which means households will effectively suffer around 7.5 hours of load shedding per day.

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