Cape Town - South Africans are set to brace themselves as power utility announces it will be implementing Stage 5 load shedding from 4pm on Tuesday.
The power utility said Stage 5 would be implemented until 5am on Wednesday. Thereafter, Stage 4 load shedding would be implemented.
“This pattern will be repeated daily until further notice. Eskom will publish another update as soon as any significant changes occur,” Eskom’s crisis communication manager, Menzi Mngomezulu said.
Breakdowns are the cause of the latest increase of load shedding stage.
“Breakdowns are currently at 18 177MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 2 629MW.
“Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at Duvha, Kriel, Majuba, Medupi and Tutuka power stations was returned to service.
“In the same period, a generation unit each at Arnot, Camden and Tutuka and two generating units at Kriel power stations were taken out of service due to breakdowns,” Mngomezulu said.
He said a delay in returning units to services at Arnot, Kendal, Kriel, Lethabo, Matla, Tutuka and two generating units at Hendrina power stations continued to add to the capacity constraints.
“The team is working tirelessly to ensure that generating units are returned to service as soon as possible.
“We thank those South Africans who do heed the call to use electricity sparingly and efficiently, including switching off geysers from 5pm to 9pm, in helping to alleviate the pressure on the power system and avoiding higher stages of load shedding,” Mngomezulu said.
The ailing power utility said it would update the nation as soon as significant changes occurred.