By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom says that stage 6 load shedding will be implemented again from 20h00 on Sunday evening until 05h00 on Monday (20 February).
Thereafter stage 4 load shedding will continue to be implemented until further notice
Eskom implemented stage 6 load shedding on Saturday night to replenish its emergency reserves, and warned that the same might be required on Sunday.
Eskom warned that, due to the high amount of breakdowns, there is a possibility of further changes on the stages of load shedding at short notice.
“A further update will be published as soon as any significant changes occur,” it said.
Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at Camden, Duvha and Lethabo power stations suffered breakdowns and were taken offline for repairs.
The return to service of two generating units at Drakensberg and a unit each at Kendal and Tutuka power stations are delayed.
Two generating units at Lethabo Power Station were returned to service during the period.
Breakdowns currently amount to 19,385MW of generating capacity while 3,566W of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance.
While Eskom is confident it will be able to avoid high level load shedding – and outgoing CEO Andre de Ruyter has indicated that some more capacity will return by the end of March – the group’s inablilty to keep breakdowns at bay has cast serious doubt on whether this will be achieved.
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.