Stage 4 load shedding returns from 5pm, more blackouts expected next week – Eskom

South Africans might have enjoyed a short reprieve from the rolling blackouts to cook their Sunday lunches, but it will be back to KFC and sarmies this evening.

Eskom temporarily suspended load shedding on Sunday morning, but it will now return with Stage 4 at 5pm until 4pm on Monday.

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According to the power utility, stage 5 load shedding will then be in place during the evening (between 4pm and midnight) from Monday to Wednesday.

“Load shedding will vary between Stage 2 and 4 during the day until Wednesday,” Eskom said in a statement on Sunday.

See the table below:

The parastatal said load shedding was necessary “mainly due to high levels of breakdowns as well as depleted emergency generation reserves”.

“Three units at Kusile Power Station are offline due to the duct (chimney structure) failure late in October and will remain offline for a few months while repairs to the chimney system take place.

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“Unit 1 of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station will continue to generate at a reduced output over the next three weeks as fuel is depleted ahead of the refueling and maintenance outage scheduled to commence in December,” the statement further reads.

Generating units at Arnot, Grootvlei, and Majuba power stations were taken offline for repairs on Sunday, while a unit at Kriel has since returned to service.

“We currently have 5 354 MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 495 MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns,” Eskom added.

Eskom has spent nearly R11.2 billion on diesel for generating emergency reserves so far this year.

Erratic changes

Meanwhile, the power utility also warned that there would “more erratic” changes in the stages of load shedding.

This is due to “the absence of the buffer that is normally provided by the diesel generation capacity between generating unit breakdowns”.

South Africa has experienced more than 150 days load shedding as of 20 November, with prolonged periods of blackouts being anticipated in the future.

Compiled by Xanet Scheepers