Eskom suspends load shedding for a short while

Eskom has announced that load shedding was suspended at 12:50pm on Saturday afternoon until 4pm.

However, stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm on Saturday until 5am on Sunday, followed by stage 1 until 4pm.

Load shedding

Eskom Crisis Communication Manager Menzi Mngomezulu said the power cuts were suspended due to lower weekend demand.

“Eskom will publish another update should any significant changes occur.”

Earlier, the embattled power utility said stage 3 load shedding would continue to be implemented from 4pm until 5am during the weekend.

Meanwhile, Minister of Electricity  Kgosientsho Ramokgopa will host the weekly media briefing to give an update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan on Sunday, 27 August.

Ramokgopa is expected to provide a status update on the Tutuka Power Station.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Eskom losing thousands of megawatts due to lack of maintenance

Maintenance issues

Earlier this month, Ramokgopa said Eskom was losing hundreds of thousands of megawatts of electricity due to a lack of consistent maintenance at some of its power stations.

The minister said the historical lack of maintenance of electricity infrastructure resulted in the underperformance of some power stations which could be adding capacity to the electricity grid.

“Significant amount of opportunity is giving us an EAF (Energy Availability Factor) of 40% and we know we can do significantly better because those units are big units and 40% really is an injustice on what the team is capable of achieving.”

Impact

Ramokgopa said the historical backlog is having a serious impact on the grid.

“Part of the underperformance we are seeing is a function of historic reasons. Historic in this instance I’m referring to Eskom’s inability to invest in the maintenance.” 

Ramokgopa also defended Eskom’s diesel and electricity bill since the beginning of April as it battles to keep the lights on.

Eskom spent R12.4 billion on diesel since April, a cost Ramokgopa said is necessary to protect South Africa’s economy.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Mbeki claims load shedding was deliberately created by Eskom