Eskom announces stage 4 load shedding

Eskom has announced that it will implement stage 4 load shedding from 1pm on Saturday afternoon.

In a statement on Twitter, the embattled power utility announced that they would need to move from Stage 2 load shedding to Stage 4 from 1pm until 10pm on Saturday night.

It also said that stage 4 load shedding would be implemented from 8am to 10pm on Sunday as demand is higher than anticipated due to some units tripping.

As the cold snap hit Gauteng, Eskom announced on Friday that load shedding would take place throughout the weekend, meaning power will be switched off from 08:00 until 22:00 on Saturday and Sunday.

“This is done to preserve the current diesel stocks and an attempt to contain the amount of load shedding,” said the embattled in a statement.

A unit at the Duvha Power Station tripped on Friday afternoon, while a generating unit each at Tutuka
and Medupi power stations has been returned to service.

Three generation units are expected to service on Saturday. But this will not be sufficient to meet the higher demand during the cold front over the weekend.

“We currently have 3 405MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 481MW of capacity is
unavailable due to breakdowns,” Eskom said.

The power utility is appealing to all South Africans to help limit the impact of load shedding by reducing the usage of electricity and to switch off all non-essential items.

READ MORE: Load shedding crisis as Eskom breakdowns hit new record