Brace yourselves for more load shedding

Large parts of the country were in darkness for the third consecutive weekend after Eskom declared Stage 3 load shedding on 5 December.

Eskom implemented load shedding throughout the weekend to secure electricity for the entire country.

However, Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona issued an official update on the state of electricity supply and maintenance at its power stations on 8 December in Johannesburg.

Matona apologised to the nation for the recent load shedding.

“Eskom apologises to the nation for the inconvenience of the past few weeks,” he said.

The power utility implemented Stage 2 blackouts on Thursday and Stage 3 on Friday.

However, the power utility did not anticipate implementing its Stage 3 schedule of rolling blackouts again this month.

“We will probably not go into Stage 3 from this difficult patch, but that will rely on additional power capacity going forward,” said Matona.

Stage 1 allows for up to 1000MW of the national load to be shed, Stage 2 for up to 2000MW and Stage 3 for up to 4000MW.

“The power system remains constrained and the system will remain tight this summer,” he said.

Matona maintained that there is no crisis at Eskom, only challenges.

“I think the way Eskom gets reported on creates the perception of a crisis,” said Matona.

He also indicated that the power utility needed financial stability and additional power to ensure electricity supply was reliable.

Matona said they load shed out of responsibility.

“It really pains us to have to load shed. We know the public is not pleased,” he said.