Load shedding back and in place for 21 hours

Eskom announced on Friday morning that Stage 2 load shedding would be in place for 21 hours from 9am on Friday, lasting until 6am on Saturday. 

This follows the much-hated load management system being put into effect on Thursday and then being extended into the early hours of Friday. 

ALSO READ: Find your load shedding schedules here

Eskom's COO, Jan Oberholzer says while the power utility had hoped they would be able to address their power generation challenges in that time, they were forced to resort to the load shedding extension. 

"We expected three of the units back overnight. One of them came back, but we lost another one. So we actually gained nothing," Oberholzer explains. 

He says that the load profile - or demand for electricity -  of the last week had caught them off-guard. 

In that time, as South Africa first battled heatwave conditions, and then widespread rain and cold weather. 

"Our system is still unpredictable and unreliable, and we are going to need time to fix it. We find ourselves where we are, and we cannot wish it away," says Oberholzer. 

"The only way we can find our way out of this is to chip away at it day by day," he says.