By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom will implement stage 5 load shedding from 5am on Sunday morning until further notice.
Load shedding has been at stage 6 for almost an entire week – the longest stretch of such a high level since the January. Eskom also confirmed that over 7,000MW were removed from the grid at times, saying that load shedding hit stage 7.
Former Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga said the power utility technically implemented stage 8 load-shedding this week, as any cuts above 7,000MW are stage 8.
On 21 February and 22 February, Eskom’s peak evening data showed that it implemented load-shedding of 7,045MW and 7,092MW, respectively.
However, Eskom’s head of generation, Thomas Conradie, has denied implementing stage 8 load shedding despite the power utility’s data showing that it cut over 7,000MW from the grid.
Conradie said in a press briefing that “we have not introduced stage 7, stage 8, or any higher stages of load-shedding”.
He explained that they manage supply and demand. “When we run out on the supply side, we have to manage demand,” Conradie said.
He said the power utility could lean on load shedding and load curtailement – where big energy users are required to cut usage – to manage demand.
“Where we have seen higher than 6,000MW load-shedding, we have also introduced stage 4 load-curtailment. It can provide Eskom with up to 1,000MW, depending on the demand of those customers when it is implemented.
“I can clearly state that we have not had load-shedding band creep or that we have introduced higher stages of load-shedding without notifying the public,” Conradie said.
Conradie explained that the 7,045MW and 7,092MW of load-sheddingthis week was a combination of stage 6 load-shedding and load-curtailment.