No surprise as Eskom announces return of load shedding

After South Africans were given a two-day reprieve from load shedding, Eskom on Sunday announced that the blackouts will return in the evenings from Monday to Wednesday.

Stage 2 load shedding

Eskom said that stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm to midnight on those days.

“Eskom will endeavour to limit load shedding to night-time to have minimal impact on the economy and population,” it said.

The power utility said it will provide a further update on Wednesday afternoon “or as soon as any significant changes occur”.

It said the power cuts were still needed to replenish emergency generation reserves.

“Since Saturday two generation units at Kriel and a unit each at Kendal, Komati, Lethabo, Majuba and Matla power stations have returned to service. A generating unit each at Kendal and Kusile power stations were taken offline for repairs.”

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Eskom added it has 5 487MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 061MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

January only load shedding free month

Load Shedding Tracker by Outlier shows that January has been the only load shedding free month in 2022.

It also showed that South Africa has suffered 116 days of rolling blackouts (until October 4 2022) so far this year.

Load shedding worsened

Data from South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) also showed that Eskom had cut 2 276GWh of electricity in the first six months of 2022, more than 90% of the 2 521GWh it shed for the entire 2021.

According to the latest report, South Africa has experienced at least seven distinct periods of power cuts over the past 15 years, with the trend worsening since 2018.

Between 2020 and 2021, the number of load shedding hours increased by more than 300, or 12.5 days, for an approximate total of 1 169 hours, or 48 days.

Additional reporting by Faizel Patel

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