National utility Eskom announced that stage 2 load shedding would be implemented from Monday at 5pm due to severe generation capacity constraints.
They said load shedding would continue for the rest of the week and end on Monday at 5am.
In a statement Eskom said this has been caused by a shortage of generation capacity owing to delays in returning generators to service, as well as breakdowns of nine generators.
On Sunday generation units at Lethabo, Tutuka, Ingula, Drakensberg, Arnot as well as two units each at Hendrina and Matla power stations suffered breakdowns.
Further, delays in returning generators to service at Arnot, Kendal and three units at Tutuka power stations have added to the capacity constraints.
Eskom expects to return as many of these units to service as possible over the next few days and said it has had to rely on the use of emergency generating reserves to limit the stage of load shedding during this period.
“We currently have 3 875MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 067MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.”
They urged the public to use electricity sparingly to reduce the occurrence of load shedding and said it would monitor the system and implement any changes as required.
IOL