Eskom warns of delayed maintenance as stage 6 returns
Eskom says a large number of its workers failed to report for duty amid the ongoing wage negotiations between the utility and labour unions.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) met with Eskom management in an attempt to thrash out a wage agreement.
The unions have urged workers to return ahead of another meeting at the Central Bargaining Forum on Friday.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantha says while some workers have started reporting for duty at the power stations, there is still a high level of absenteeism.
This has resulted in routine maintenance work being postponed.
"This backlog will take days to weeks to clear,” he says.
“It is therefore important to note that the system will remain constrained and vulnerable to additional breakdowns while recovery activities are in progress. Due to the unlawful and unprotected labour action, which has caused widespread disruption to Eskom’s power plants, Eskom is unable to return some generators to service.
“This has compelled Eskom to continue taking precautionary measures to conserve emergency generation capacity and safeguard plant from damage. There remains a risk that the stage of loadshedding may have to change at any time, depending on the state of the plant," says Mantshantha.
The utility will implement stage 6 again from 4pm to 10pm on Wednesday, whereafter power cuts will be reduced to stage 4 from 10pm until midnight and on Thursday.
Load shedding will then be reduced to stage 2 until 5am on Thursday morning.
The utility is currently running at 3 161MW on planned maintenance, while another 17 395MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
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