Eskom to move from stage 3 to 2 loadsheding from Tuesday

Eskom says its system remains constrained as it's experiencing breakdowns and this could lead to a change in the loadshedding schedule this week, which is currently at stage 3.

Eskom group COO Jan Oberholzer said the system does not have enough capacity to generate enough power due to 42 generation units which tripped last week, leading to a loss of 24,000 megawatts by the power utility.

Oberholzer said 37 units have since been returned.

Stage 3 loadshedding has been implemented from 5am on Monday and will continue until midnight.

The country will move to stage 2 from 5am on Tuesday until midnight on Friday.

''We may change [the load shedding plan] at short notice should we see breakdowns. We do not have enough capacity to do maintenance but Eskom is doing what it can so that capacity is added to the system,’’ said Oberholzer at a media briefing.

He said there is no evidence that any of the breakdowns were as a result of sabotage.

''We currently have 5,200 megawatts on planned maintenance. We have a system that is unreliable and unpredictable. That is unfortunately the situation we find ourselves in.

"We unfortunately have to implement loadshedding when our system is challenged. I believe we have a competent team to attend to this problem,'' said Oberholzer.

He urged South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly while the system continues its maintenance operations. 

kokam@sowetan.co.za