Cape Town – While the rest of the country will be on Stage 3 load shedding, the City of Cape Town said that its customers will be on Stage 2 until 5pm.
Late on Thursday evening, Eskom confirmed that load shedding will be increased to Stage 3 from 8am today.
The power utility said although there has been a slight improvement in generation performance, there have been further breakdowns at the Kusile, Matla and Tutuka power stations.
“Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 8am until 10pm on Thursday. This is in order to continue replenishing the emergency generation reserves which have been depleted.
“These emergency reserves are required to respond to emergencies in order to maintain the stability of the national grid,” Eskom said.
Thereafter Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented.
The City of Cape Town, after checking its generation capacity, announced that its customers will be on Stage 2 until 5pm, and then provide further updates later.
Load-shedding update for Thursday 10 June 2021
— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) June 10, 2021
Eskom will implement Stage 3 load-shedding from 08:00 to 22:00 on Thursday, as per an update received from Eskom.
City-supplied customers will have Stage 2 load-shedding from 06:00 to 17:00.
Further City updates to follow. pic.twitter.com/0fSF14fiCm
The City is able to generate additional capacity thanks to the help of the Steenbras Pumped Storage Plant.
Mayco member for energy and climate change, Phindile Maxiti, said the City has always built into its planning some additional reserve capacity that it generates through its Steenbras Hydro Pump Station to assist its customers during load shedding if required and if possible.