Eskom load shedding at stage 4 on Tuesday as suppliers plan for stage 8
Eskom has said that load shedding will shift back to stage 4 until 23h00 on Tuesday, having implemented stage 6 on Monday – its worst cut to date.
“Eskom unreservedly apologises to South Africans as Stage 6 rotational load shedding shifts back to Stage 4 from 22:00 today until 23:00 on Tuesday,” the power utility said.
It said that generating unit breakdowns remained high.
Date: 09 December 2019
Eskom unreservedly apologises to South Africans as Stage 6 rotational loadshedding shifts back to Stage 4 from 22:00 today until 23:00 on Tuesday.@News24 @TimesLIVE @eNCA @iol @SABCNewsOnline @TheCitizen_News @SAfmRadio @POWER987News pic.twitter.com/H2YOxOrHLH
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) December 9, 2019
Bloomberg reported that having intensified rolling blackouts to a record, raised the risk of a second recession in as many years.
Eskom is restricting power for a sixth straight day as it struggles with breakdowns at plants and heavy rains that have soaked coal used as fuel. The blackouts have a debilitating effect on the economy by curtailing mining and factory output and causing crippling traffic delays.
“It does mean that the economy is heading for a recession,” Iraj Abedian, chief executive officer of Pan-African Investments and Research Services, told Bloomberg by phone from Johannesburg. “There’s no way that hot on the heels of the previous quarter’s negative growth in GDP with this type of humongous and material disruption to the continuity of business that the economy can register positive growth.”
South Africa’s statistics office announced last week that gross domestic product shrank an annualized 0.6% in the three months through September. Power cuts also dented the economy in the first quarter, when it contracted the most in a decade, led by a drop in manufacturing, mining and agriculture output
Eskom’s announcement marked the end of a torrid day on Twitter for South African president Cyril Ramaphosa. His weekly letter to the nation highlighting how Medupi is a fitting symbol of the importance of state-owned companies was derided on the social-media site.
At 22h00 local time he issued a statement commiserating with his countrymen.
“The ongoing load-shedding is devastating for the country. It is causing our economy great harm and disrupting the lives of citizens,” he said. “The anger and frustration that this load-shedding has caused is understandable.”
Municipalities were also caught off guard, with Johannesburg electricity distributor City Power saying it has no load-shedding schedule for stage 6.
City Power however, updated its schedule to include stage 8 on Tuesday:
#loadshedding Please find complete schedule for #Loadshedding until stage 8. The schedule can also be found on our website https://t.co/3X45hC02u3^GR pic.twitter.com/QPzWyM9CwU
— @CityPowerJhb (@CityPowerJhb) December 9, 2019
The one thing that could prevent GDP from dipping as deep as it did in the first quarter is the fact that many businesses are winding down as the Christmas holidays approach.
Growth would have to rebound about 0.8% in the fourth quarter to reach the government’s forecast of a 0.5% expansion in the three-month period, said Gina Schoeman, an economist at Citigroup South Africa. The economy is unlikely to grow that much, she said.
Weak economic growth could lead to a further deterioration in public finances and heighten the risk of South Africa losing its last investment-grade credit rating with Moody’s Investors Service. The company cut the outlook of the nation’s Baa3 assessments to negative last month.
Load-shedding at stage 6 is “no cause for alarm as the system is being effectively controlled,” Eskom said in a statement.
“Eskom’s emergency response command centre and technical teams will be working through the night to restore units as soon as possible.”
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