Eskom ramped up power cuts to stage 4, requiring up to 4,000 megawatts to be shed from the national grid late last week, after labour protests linked to deadlocked wage talks. Under stage 6, 6,000MW needs to be shed from the grid.
The utility plans to meet union leaders again on Tuesday to try to resolve issues relating to the strike, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said.
Eskom has only implemented stage six power cuts once before, in December 2019, COO Jan Oberholzer said.
LISTEN | Eskom sees risk of stage 6 power cuts by Tuesday evening
Eskom sees a “very real risk” of having to implement stage 6 power cuts by 5pm on Tuesday, after 10 generation units went offline overnight.
Eskom ramped up power cuts to stage 4, requiring up to 4,000 megawatts to be shed from the national grid late last week, after labour protests linked to deadlocked wage talks. Under stage 6, 6,000MW needs to be shed from the grid.
The utility plans to meet union leaders again on Tuesday to try to resolve issues relating to the strike, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said.
Eskom has only implemented stage six power cuts once before, in December 2019, COO Jan Oberholzer said.
Some Eskom employees went on an unprotected strike last Tuesday after a deadlock in wage negotiations. On Friday Eskom was granted a court order stopping the unprotected strike at nine power stations and facilities. Incidents of intimidation of employees and blocking roads to power stations and facilities were reported.
As a result, load-shedding was on Friday ramped up to stage 4 and Eskom said it would continue until Wednesday. However, the power utility previously warned that the load-shedding stage could increase or decrease at short notice.
This is a developing story
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