Load shedding is back, stage 2 on Thursday
Eskom has announced it will be implementing stage 2 load shedding on Thursday, with the possibility of the rolling blackouts being ramped up to stage 3.
The power cuts will start at 8am and continue until 10pm on Thursday night.
The power utility's spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha says the system is under severe pressure due to a number of unit breakdowns.
“There is a high possibility that Stage 2 load shedding may be escalated to stage 3 for the evening peak. This load shedding has been caused by an increase in plant breakdowns during the night and early hours of the morning.”
Mantshantsha says there’s also been a delay in the return to service of two units at Duvha and Tutuka plants and additional breakdowns of four units at Kriel, Tutuka and Kendall.
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“These units removed more than 2 000MW of capacity from the system. Eskom is working hard to return as many of these generation units to service.
“The generating plant continues to perform at low levels of reliability, any unexpected shift such as an increase in unplanned breakdowns could result in a change in the load shedding stage at short notice."
There’s a possibility that the load shedding will persist throughout the weekend.
