Stage 2 load shedding extended to Sunday night

Eskom has announced that Stage 2 load shedding will continue on Wednesday and extend until Sunday night as it struggles to return several generation units back to service, while the winter cold snap has resulted in a spike in electricity demand.

It was forced to implement Stage 2 load shedding from 17h00 to 22h00 on Tuesday evening. Despite a small respite overnight into the early hours of the morning, Eskom confirmed that Stage 2 load shedding will resume from 10h00 on Wednesday until 22h00 on Sunday night.

This is the second week that Stage 2 load shedding is set to extend into the weekend.

“Due to the continued delays in returning generation units to service at Kusile, Tutuka, Duvha, Kendal and Koeberg Power Stations, Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented,” Eskom said in a statement.

“In addition, these constraints have been exacerbated by the high winter demand throughout the day over the past few days as brought about by the colder temperatures,” the power utility pointed out.

“The emergency generation reserves have been used extensively in the past days to avoid load shedding during the day. This has resulted in these being depleted, reducing available capacity. It is, therefore, necessary to implement load shedding continuously in order to replenish the emergency reserves,” it added.

Read: Eskom escalates Stage 2 load shedding to business hours (2 June)

According to Eskom, current breakdowns total 13 752MW of capacity, while planned maintenance is 1 273MW of capacity.

“These capacity constraints will continue for the foreseeable future and all South Africans are urged to reduce their use of electricity, particularly between 17hoo and 22h00, when the winter demand is the highest,” it said.

Eskom apologised for the inconvenience and uncertainty caused by the interruptions in electricity supply.