Load shedding returns: Eskom announces power cuts for Saturday night

Eskom has put a damper on South Africans’ weekend by announcing that load shedding will be returning.

Stage 3 load shedding

The power utility said stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 5:30pm on Saturday.

“Following over 20 days of uninterrupted electricity supply, Eskom has encountered another temporary setback,” it said.

“As a result, Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from today at 5:30pm until further notice.”

Eskom did not say how long the load shedding will be in place, but did state it will give an update on Sunday.

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‘Worst is yet to come’

After another bout of load shedding for two days on 31 January and 1 February, energy analysts warned that uninterrupted electricity supply in South Africa was still far away.

At the time, Professor Sampson Mamphweli and Tshepo Mahlaba, pointed to the unpredictability of Eskom’s old power stations.

However, Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said that that return of load shedding was a “potentially temporary setback”.

“Load shedding is largely behind us due to the structural improvements in our generation fleet. However, over the past seven days, we have experienced several breakdowns that require extended repair times. This has necessitated the use of all our emergency reserves which now need to be replenished,” Marokane said.

Minister of Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa also blamed a “perfect storm” for that bout of rolling blackouts.

He said multiple unplanned breakdowns, in addition to continued planned maintenance, resulted in Eskom depleting its emergency generation reserves.

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