Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will shift from Stage 5 to Stage 4 on Wednesday evening.
Amid the resignation of Eskom’s CEO, André De Ruyter, the power utility says that load shedding will be reduced to Stage 4 starting from 05:00 on Thursday morning until 05:00 on Sunday morning.
Thereafter Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented on Sunday.
Eskom spokesperson, Sikonathi Mantshantsha, said that since Tuesday morning, a unit each at Camden, Kriel, Majuba, Matla and Duvha power stations were taken offline for repairs and planned maintenance.
“In addition, the delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Arnot, Duvha and Hendrina power stations has contributed to the capacity constraints,”
“A generating unit each at Grootvlei, Camden, Kriel, Majuba power stations returned to service,“ he said.
Mantshantsha said Eskom currently had 6 618MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 996MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
“Eskom requests the public to reduce the usage of electricity and to exercise patience and tolerance during this difficult period,”
He further said that load shedding was implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.
Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes.
IOL