Eskom implements load shedding from 9am today until 5am on Saturday

Durban - Don't pack away the candles and emergency lights just yet. Eskom warns that more load shedding is on the way.

Early this morning, Eskom announced that due to a shortage of generation capacity, Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 9am today (Tuesday) until 5am on Saturday.

While Eskom teams have successfully returned a unit each at the Kusile, Matimba and Arnot power stations during the early hours of this morning, further delays in returning other units to service have exacerbated the capacity constraints, hampering the ability to replenish the emergency generation reserves.

Eskom anticipates to return Koeberg Unit 1 to service during the weekend. Eskom also expects to return five other units to service during the week.

However, there are number of generation units running with risk of failure that cannot be attended to at the moment due to the current capacity constraints.

Total breakdowns currently amount to 13 333MW while planned maintenance is 5 548MW of capacity.

"Eskom would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the implementation of load shedding, and requests the public to reduce the usage of electricity in order to help us through the constraints," the utility giant said.

Eskom will communicate promptly should there be any significant changes to the power system.

IOL