By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom says stage 4 load shedding will be implemented on Tuesday afternoon following the loss of generation capacity.
Stage 4 planned power cuts will be in place from 4pm until 5am on Wednesday. Thereafter stage 2 will kick in from 5am until 4pm.
“The implementation of the higher stages of loadshedding is due to the loss of additional generation units over the past 24 hours however, Eskom will endeavour to reduce stages of load shedding where possible,” the group said.
Breakdowns are currently at 16,154MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5,970MW.
Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit at Duvha, Kendal and Majuba power stations was returned to service.
In the same period, a generating unit at Camden, Kendal, Kriel, Kusile, Matla and two generating units at Matimba power stations were taken offline for repairs.
The delay in returning to service a generating unit at Tutuka and Kendal Power Stations is also contributing to the current capacity constraints.
Eskom said its load forecast for the evening peak demand is 28,512MW it appealed to the members of the public to continue reducing demand by switching 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.