Eskom announces longer hours of load shedding on Thursday

It’s back to reality as Eskom unsurprisingly announced that the stage 2 load shedding currently underway will be implemented throughout Thursday night. It was previously scheduled to end at 10pm.

The dark lords of Megawatt Park initially said the stage 2 power cuts will continue to be implemented from 5am until 10pm on Friday and Saturday.

ALSO READ: Load shedding is back! Stage 2 expected until Saturday night

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the additional load shedding on Thursday night is needed to manage and preserve the pumped storage dam levels, which have been utilised extensively over the past four days. The pumped storage dam levels form part of the emergency generation reserves.

“We currently have 4 588MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 204MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns,” said Mantshantsha.

“Eskom therefore urges all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly, and will communicate promptle should there be any significant changes.”

Dangers of load shedding

Meanwhile, The Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) has warned the residents of Johannesburg to be vigilant as power cuts keep South Africans in the dark.

MMC for EISD in the City of Johannesburg, Michael Sun, said load shedding is not only about being in the dark due to blackouts.

“It is the exact time cable thieves strike and our infrastructure becomes vulnerable to outages.”

“Not only does load shedding provide a handy schedule to the thugs that steal our cables and other equipment without the risk of electrocution, but City Power infrastructure also wasn’t designed to be constantly powered up and powered down. The whole process makes the system more susceptible to faults,” Sun said.

ALSO READ: Joburg residents warned to be vigilant as load shedding kicks in