Eskom paints grim picture of load shedding for week

Eskom has painted a grim picture of the load shedding schedule for the week.

The power utility has announced that stage 4 deliberate power cuts will continue to be implemented until midnight on Tuesday, and thereafter stage 2 will be kick-in until 5am on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the rolling blackouts will then resume at stage 3 at 4pm until midnight on Wednesday and be repeated on Thursday.

ALSO READ: Load shedding doesn’t deter Ramaphosa’s faith in Eskom

“Stage 2 will then be implemented from 4pm until midnight on Friday. Eskom will publish a further update on Friday afternoon, or as soon as any further significant changes occur.”

Status of generation units

“Since yesterday morning, a unit each at Duvha, Medupi as well as three units at Kendal power stations have returned to service. A generation unit each at Arnot, Camden, Tutuka and Kusile power stations remain out of service following breakdowns in the past 24 hours,” Mantshantsha said.

Mantshantsha said the ailing parastatal currently has 5 106MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 576MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

“Load shedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdown,” Mantshantsha said.

Ramaphosa’s faith in Eskom board

Meanwhile, the Presidency said President Cyril Ramaphosa continues to have faith in the management of the failing parastatal.

Briefing the media in Pretoria, Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the issues affecting Eskom are complex.

“The President still has faith in the management and leadership of Eskom. It will not be prudent to single out an individual at this stage, considering and appreciating the complexity of issues at Eskom, as they’ve been outlined multiple times before.”

ALSO READ: Infographic: January only load shedding free month in 2022