Eskom said on Wednesday that it will implement stage-3 rotational load shedding with effect from 1pm, a dramatic escalation in the rolling blackouts that are paralysing the South African economy.

The load shedding will continue at stage 3 until 6am on Thursday, the state-owned utility said.

“This load shedding is necessary as the power-generation system is still severely constrained due to high generation unit breakdowns in the past three days as well as the need to replenish diminishing emergency generation reserves,” the company said.

It warned, too, that there is a “high probability” that the latest bout of load shedding will continue throughout Thursday.

On Wednesday morning, Eskom lost a generation unit each at the Lethabo, Kendal and Duvha power stations, exacerbating the supply constraints.

More than 14.5GW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns and delays in bringing units back into service.  — (c) 2021 NewsCentral Media