Load-shedding will be with us until 5am on Saturday

Eskom said on Tuesday that rotational power cuts would be in place until 5am Saturday, reduced from stage 2 to stage 1 from Wednesday at 5am

16 March 2021 - 18:40
By belinda pheto AND Belinda Pheto
Eskom has extended load-shedding to Saturday.
Image: 123RF/choneschones Eskom has extended load-shedding to Saturday.

Eskom will extend load-shedding until 5am Saturday as its power system is still constrained.

But the severity will be reduced to stage 1 from 5am on Wednesday. Stage 2 rotational power cuts have been in place since Thursday last week.

Eskom said that though its teams managed to successfully return four generation units at Kusile, Grootvlei, Kriel and Matla — as well as the Cahora Bassa line from Mozambique — this was still not enough to suspend load-shedding.

“During this period we have lost generation unit capacity at Medupi, Arnot and Komati power stations, additionally the return to service of four other units has been delayed, prolonging the need to continue load-shedding,” Eskom said.

The power utility said it has 5,850MW on planned maintenance while another 13,443MW of capacity is unavailable because of breakdowns and delays, leading to it being unable to meet the demand for electricity.

Eskom said it continues to implement reliability maintenance during this period and their system will remain constrained with the possibility of load-shedding remaining elevated.

TimesLIVE