The power utility announced on Monday evening that stage-4 and stage-5 load shedding would continue throughout the week.
Cape Town - The power utility Eskom announced on Monday evening that stage 4 and 5 load shedding would continue to be implemented throughout the week.
This comes after Eskom had previously said Stage 5 load shedding would be implemented from 4pm on Monday afternoon until 5am on Tuesday morning, thereafter stage 4 load shedding would resume until further notice, owing to the failure of five generating units.
On Monday evening, Eskom issued another update saying: “Stage 5 load shedding will be implemented until 5am Tuesday, and thereafter Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented until at 4pm Tuesday afternoon until the rest of the week.”
Eskom also said this pattern would be repeated until further notice, and warned that additional breakdowns could result in the increase in load shedding stages at short notice.
The power utility said that over the past 24 hours two generating units at Duvha power station and one at each of Arnot and Tutuka had been taken offline for repairs, while there had been a return to service of a generating unit at each of Medupi, Matla, Tutuka.
“Bassa in Mozambique is continuing and is anticipated to be completed by next week. A generating unit each at Camden, Lethabo, Kriel, Majuba and Matimba power stations were successfully returned to service during this period.
“Breakdowns currently amount to 17 622MW of generating capacity, while 4 659MW of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance,” Eskom said.
The power utility further urged all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly to help alleviate pressure on the grid.
A further update would be published as soon as any significant changes occurred.
IOL