Eskom will continue implementing Stage 3 load shedding during 05:00 - 16:00, and Stage 4 load shedding during 16:00 - 05:00 daily until further notice.
According to the power utility, current breakdowns amount to 17 035MW while planned maintenance is 6 189MW.
This comes after South Africans experienced Stage 3 and stage 4 load shedding just days into the new year.
Besides the load shedding crisis, Eskom is due to face a legal challenge this year in a bid to stop it from applying targeted load reduction on numerous feeder lines across the country.
According to a Pretoria News report, Sakeliga, the business community that litigates to reform harmful state action and policy, in collaboration with Agri North-West, TLU SA, which promotes the privatisation of Eskom, and affected businesses, launched an application in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, against Eskom, calling for the court to review and set aside the utility’s load reduction policy.
Tian Alberts, of Sakeliga, said for more than a year Eskom has regularly, and for hours on end, been terminating the power supply of direct users on certain feeder lines in an apparent attempt to curb illegal usage and to collect debt. In the process, paying end-users – often businesses and farms – are also targeted.
Load reduction is implemented above and beyond national load shedding, and causes significant disruption to production processes and damage to equipment.
Load shedding can also impact the food in your fridge.
Speaking to eNCA, health expert Dr Fundile Nyati says regular power cuts may affect the safety of food in refrigerators and can result in food poisoning.
The expert believes that perishable foods such as fresh meat, fresh fish, milk and cheese are among those that are most susceptible to spoilage and food safety concerns.
Nyati said if food that is supposed to be stored in refrigerators or freezers at a certain temperature warms up, it could lead to the growth of poisonous bacteria.
IOL