Load shedding back again from 5pm today until Friday

Eskom has announced it will be implementing stage 2 load shedding from 5pm on Wednesday until 11pm on Friday.

In a statement on Wednesday, the power utility said this was due to a loss of generation capacity and to replenish its emergency generation reserves.

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Eskom warned that should any further breakdowns occur before 5pm, it might need to implement load shedding.

“Continued poor performance at the Kusile, Duvha and Tutuka power stations, as well as delays in returning some other units to service and breakdowns over the last week, have caused the need to implement this load shedding,” the utility said.

“Eskom has had to extensively utilise its emergency generation reserves which are being rapidly depleted. This period of load shedding will be used to replenish the emergency generation reserves.

“We currently have 6,212MW on planned maintenance, while another 11,217MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns and delays. This has led to our inability to supply the increasing demand.”

Weekend load shedding

According to Eskom, there is a high probability load shedding could continue through the weekend. But it said this would depend on its plants returning to service from planned maintenance, as well as levels of emergency generation reserves.

“Eskom will continue to assess and communicate promptly as the situation changes.

“As previously communicated, Eskom continues to implement reliability maintenance during this period and, as such, the system will continue to be constrained, with the possibility of load shedding remaining elevated.”

Eskom called on the public to use electricity sparingly as the system remained vulnerable and unpredictable.

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