By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Stage 5 loadshedding will be implemented from 16:00 on Sunday until 05:00 on Monday morning due to increased unit maintenance and equipment failures, power utility Eskom said in a statement.
Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from Monday morning, the utility said, with Stage 5 then set to resume at 16:00. This pattern will be repeated daily until further notice.
“Due to the necessary increase in generation planned maintenance, from an average of 3,000 MW in June to an average of 6,000 MW in September, coupled with the recent multiple generation unit failures,” Eskom said.
“The increase in the stages of load shedding is necessary to recover emergency generation reserves.
The embattled power utility added that breakdowns currently stand at 16,572 MW of generating capacity while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 6,287 MW.
In addition, over the weekend, a generating unit at Duvha, Hendrina, Tutuka and two generating units at Kendal were taken offline for repairs.
That said, a generating unit at Arnot, Camden and Grootvlei power stations were returned to service over the same period.
Eskom said that the load forecast for evening peak demand is 26,608 MW and has asked members of the public to reduce demand by turning off non-essential appliances.
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.