Eskom to implement Stage 2 load shedding from 4pm today

Brace for an even colder week and winter South Africa. Besides the winter cold front currently gripping the country, Eskom announced on Monday that it will be implementing stage 2 load shedding from 4pm till 5am on Tuesday morning.

The power utility, which has been warning about the prospect of load shedding over the last few days, said in a statement that there is “a possibility of load shedding throughout the week”.

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Eskom pointed out that the load shedding has been caused by the higher demand as a result of the cold front setting in much earlier than expected, as well as high breakdowns of generation units.

“The generation supply constraints will persist throughout the high winter demand period, which increases the likelihood of load shedding. Breakdowns currently total 14 560MW of capacity, while another 2 300MW is unavailable due to planned maintenance,” it said.

“Some generation units are expected to return to service starting this evening, which would help ease the strain. This, however, is not sufficient to eliminate the high probability of load shedding for the rest of the week,” it added.

As normal, Eskom reiterated its appeal to the public to reduce the usage of electricity so as “to assist the country get through these capacity constraints”.

Source: moneyweb.co.za