SA may limit power cuts to second-lowest level next week

South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom may limit electricity rationing to 2 000 megawatts at a time from Saturday through the end of next week.

So-called Stage 3 loadshedding, where 3 000 megawatts are cut from the grid, will be applied until midnight Friday and from Saturday Stage 2 cuts will be implemented from 4pm until midnight every day, Eskom said on Twitter. The planned schedule is dependent on returning generation units to service, the utility said.

Faced with aging infrastructure that regularly breaks down and a recent strike during which equipment was sabotaged and employees prevented from going to work, Eskom last month announced Stage 6 power cuts — in which 6 000 megawatts was removed from the national grid — for the first time in more than two years. That has prompted the government to consider measures to accelerate an increase in electricity supply.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to make an announcement about what steps will be taken as soon as Sunday, people with knowledge of the matter said.