Load shedding outlook improves at last

Eskom CEO André de Ruyter said the power utility will reduce load shedding to stage 2 on Thursday and he expects load shedding to be completely lifted by Friday morning.

He was briefing the media following a week which has seen the power utility implement stage-4 load shedding – leaving households without power for longer or for multiple times throughout the day.

De Ruyter said the power system had recovered sufficiently to reduce load shedding.

“This good recovery in the system has enabled us to reduce load shedding to stage 2 from stage 3 currently at midday today (Thursday). We will maintain stage 2 until 5am on Friday morning and we will then be in a position to lift load shedding as by then the system would have sufficiently recovered that we can continue to operate and meet normal demand,” he said.

De Ruyter admitted that although the system recovery is going well, Eskom may have to stick to load shedding into the foreseeable future.

“Given where we are and with the well-known challenges that we face on our coal-fired generation, a guarantee that there will be no load shedding is not something that I think we should consider giving at this point in time,” he said.

De Ruyter revealed that the power utility is engaging with national treasury to address Eskom’s financial problems and its consequent inability to procure spares for repairs to its power stations.