Stage 6 load shedding extended after Eskom suffers 11 breakdowns

 ·11 Jan 2023

Power utility Eskom says it has suffered 11 breakdowns at its power stations, necessitating all-day stage 6 load shedding until further notice

Stage 6 will kick in at 16h00 as previously planned, but will now continue until Eskom announces a change.

“Eskom will continue to manage the limited emergency generation reserves to supplement generation capacity. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes,” it said.

Eleven generators amounting to 5,084MW of capacity suffered breakdowns since Tuesday morning, further reducing available capacity and necessitating the increase in load shedding stages, it said.

These were a unit each at the Camden, Duvha, Grootvlei, Hendrina, Kendal, and two units each at Kriel, Majuba and Matla power stations.

A unit each at Camden, Duvha, Hendrina, Kriel, Matimba and Matla power stations have returned to service, representing 2,540MW of capacity.

Planned maintenance is currently 5,739MW while breakdowns amount to 18,041MW of capacity.

“Eskom requests the public to reduce the usage of electricity and to exercise patience and tolerance during this difficult period. Load shedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns,” it said.

Schedules 

For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:

For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.

Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.


Read: Load shedding leaves another sector in South Africa battered

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