Load shedding to start at 6am on Saturday

Eskom regrets to have to announce the implementation of Stage 2 load shedding starting at 06.00am on Saturday morning. This will continue until 23.00pm, the power utility said in a statement.

“Loadshedding will be repeated on Sunday as the system is severely constrained. Eskom also needs to implement this loadshedding in order to replenish the depleted emergency generation reserves for the coming week.

“As Eskom ramps up its planned maintenance during the lower demand summer period, as previously committed, it has had a large number of unforeseen breakdowns from the ageing, unreliable plant over the past few days. In addition to this, Eskom has taken two generation units at the Kendal Power Station offline in compliance with environmental legislation. Similarly, four generation units at the Camden Power Station have been taken offline to conserve the integrity of the ash dam facility,” Eskom added.

“We currently have 7 452MW on planned maintenance, while another 10 208MW of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned maintenance. Eskom teams are working around the clock to return as many of these units to service as soon as possible.

“Eskom requests the people of South Africa to continue using electricity sparingly in order to help us limit the impact of loadshedding. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience during this difficult period. We will communicate timeously should there be any significant changes to the power system.”

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.