Eskom downgrades load shedding to stage 5 until further notice

Embattled power utility Eskom has downgraded load shedding to Stage 5 from 6am on Friday until further notice due to a “slight improvement in generation capacity and lower demand”.

“Eskom  will publish another update should any significant changes occur,” Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said.

On Thursday, Eskom refuted reports that South Africa was on the brink of Stage 7 and 8 load shedding amid the cold front and general capacity constraints.

This after the evening peak for Tuesday and Wednesday was higher than the forecasted demand, sparking claims the country was on the verge of moving up a stage of rolling blackouts.

Breakdowns being attended to

Meanwhile, as the country battles higher stages of load shedding, the Presidency said it is confident that government is on track to end load shedding and achieve energy security.

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the unnecessary breakdowns are being attended to.

“These higher stages of load shedding are primarily, as we all know, caused by a large number of megawatts being taken off the grid as a result of unplanned breakages,

“As the president said last week as he was asked a question in a parliamentary session, ‘we are taking short-term pain for long-term gain’ in that Eskom cannot take its eye off the ball in terms of planned maintenance. That has to continue. Unfortunately, we have to contend with these unplanned breakages,” Magwenya said.

ALSO READ: ‘We are not in stage 7 load shedding’ – Eskom

Maintenance

Earlier this month, Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the country was plunged into Stage 6 load shedding because Eskom was not “sticking to its planned maintenance schedule” and that South Africans can expect intensified power cuts to persist in the short term.

“Us as a team we have taken a view that part of the reason we are where we are as a country in relation to the deterioration of the generating capacity was that we have not been sticking to planned maintenance, we have not been sticking to philosophy maintenance.

Ramokgopa said part of the fiscal relief of the R254 billion provided by National Treasury to Eskom was to ensure that the parastatal invests “heavily” on maintenance.

The minister said they will be now “sticking” to the maintenance schedule, but this will increase the intensity of load shedding.

ALSO READ: Ramokgopa explains why stage 6 load shedding is back and likely to get worse