Load shedding to be ramped up to stage 4 on Sunday

Eskom on Saturday announced that stage 4 load shedding will be implemented on Sunday.

South Africans had been suffering through stage 2 and stage 3 load shedding on Saturday.

The power utility blamed the loss of five large generation units and the delay in returning five units to service. Load shedding will now be ramped up to stage 3 and stage 4 on Sunday.

“Three units at Kendal, one each at Tutuka and Majuba power stations were forced offline to perform
emergency repairs. The return to service of a unit each at the Medupi, Arnot, Camden, Kriel and Duvha
power stations has been delayed,” Eskom said in a statement.

Stage 4 load shedding

Stage 3 will be in place between 7am and 4pm. Stage 4 will then be introduced from between 4pm and midnight.

Load shedding will then revert to stage 2 from midnight to 5am on Monday.

It said this load shedding sequence is likely to continue through next week.

“As the generation capacity shortages persist over the next few weeks, load shedding will continue to be implemented at various stages,” Eskom said.

“Eskom cautions the public that it will still take a few weeks for the power generation system to recover.”

ALSO READ: ‘It will be years, not weeks, before load shedding ends’

Strikes

Load shedding intensified last month after strikes erupted at Eskom, leaving coal plants unable to operate or undergo maintenance. 

The current bout of blackouts — two to three times per day and lasting up to four hours at a time — is the worst since December 2019.

Although a wage agreement was signed earlier this week, Eskom warned that it will take time for the system to recover due to the backlog of maintenance.

Eskom also said the wage deal will cost the utility R1 billion.

“The overall effect of this agreement on the wage bill will be more than R1 billion over the period of the agreement. This of course will be a struggle for Eskom to afford,” the utility said in a statement.