Cape Town - Eskom has extended load shedding until tomorrow, and The City of Cape Town has also explained that as a result it will alternate between Stage 1 and Stage 2 until then.
It was announced on Sunday that South Africans would have to endure the power cuts for a couple more days after Eskom said that it extended Stage 2 load shedding until 5am Wednesday.
The power utility said its generation capacity is still severely constrained following breakdowns at five power stations during the weekend.
This is in spite of Eskom teams having successfully returned generation units at the Matimba and Medupi power stations in the past two days.
“Additional breakdowns have occurred at the Tutuka, Majuba, Kusile, Matimba and Duvha power stations, adding to previous breakdowns at the Kriel and Kendal stations,” Eskom said on Sunday.
“Further to this we have had delays in units returning to service at Hendrina, Duvha and restoring full load on the Cahora Bassa line.”
The utility says it is working hard to return the units back to service.
The City of Cape Town also provided an update, saying that it will shield its customers from one stage of load shedding.
The City explained that its customers are on Stage 1 but then from 10pm at night will move to Stage 2 until 6am. Thereafter, Stage 1 will be active again until 10pm.
It said that should anything change, it would notify customers.
The City said that it is able to limit the impact of load shedding with the help of the Steenbras Pumped Storage Plant.
“The City of Cape Town is able to generate additional capacity to protect customers from one stage of Eskom load shedding, where we are able to do so. Cape Town is the only city in South Africa that can provide this extra relief to our residents.”
Cape Argus