Slight load shedding relief for the afternoon

Your Monday may be blue, but it promises to be a little less dark after Eskom announced a reduction in load shedding.

The power utility said improvements to generation capacity and performance meant load shedding will be reduced to Stage 1 from 12:00 today until 16:00.

Unfortunately, Stage 3 load shedding is still with us and will run from 16:00 until 05:00 on Tuesday. This is a slight reduction from Stage 4, as announced earlier.

Load shedding will be implemented between Stage 2 and 4 from Tuesday until further notice.

SA is coming out of Stage 6 load shedding that gripped the country last week and sparked fears of Stage 7 being implemented.

Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said Stage 6 load shedding cost the economy R1bn a day when implemented.

“The minister of finance [Enoch Godogwana] makes the point that one of the structural constraints to the South African economy is load shedding, so clearly the economy won’t recover. 

“It is going to continue to push people into conditions of abject poverty, out of employment and the economy will continue to threaten the social wage,” said the minister. 

It’s too hot!

First, it was the rain and wet coal. Then it was cold. Now Ramokgopa says hot weather may be to blame for load shedding.

According to Ramokgopa, units are not supplying enough power because they are losing megawatts to hot weather.

“This is the function of a number of factors. We know when we enter the summer it could be a function of ambient temperature. The hotter it gets, it’s very difficult for some of these units to perform, and Matimba is a prime candidate for partial load losses that are likely going to increase in the more extreme hot periods.

“But it’s something that is receiving attention to ensure that we don’t fall foul of such a situation. A lot of engineering solutions will be required.”