Stage 4 load shedding extended as even more Eskom units go down
Power utility Eskom says that stage 4 load shedding will be extended following the loss of four more generating units on Saturday (2 September).
Stage 4 load shedding will now be extended to 16h00 on Sunday – 11 hours longer than the 05h00 switch to stage 2 announced on Friday.
A further announcement on load shedding for the week ahead is expected in the afternoon.
Saturday, 2 September
- Stage 4: until 00h00
Sunday 3, September
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 16h00
The escalation of load shedding this week breaks a period of relative stability for power supply where Eskom was able to keep outages at low levels, even suspending them on some days.
The group has also been quite positive and optimistic about its overall performance, noting improvements, while also anticipating improved capacity heading into the latter months of the year and forward to 2024.
However, despite these small improvements – and a much better-than-expected energy situation in winter – economists at Nedbank say the ‘good times’ may be coming to an end.
In a note on Thursday, the bank said that while the country has seen some positive developments regarding load shedding, the underlying conditions at Eskom have not improved much.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokopga said earlier on Saturday that increased planned maintenance has intensified load shedding in South Africa, with further outages possibly on the way.
During Winter, Eskom cut its planned maintenance substantially, which it usually does due to the increase in demand following colder temperatures.
This was one reason that Eskom could keep load shedding at lower-than-expected levels in winter.
In the last week, however, Eskom has upped load shedding to stage 4 following a regular daily rotation of stage 1 and 3 load shedding.
Ramokopga said that this was due to planned maintenance increasing from roughly 2,500 MW in May to about 6,500 MW in the last week.
Although the Minister acknowledged that the increase in maintenance will intensify load shedding, he said that it is paramount that generation units that need maintenance be taken offline.
“We don’t foresee these being long outages, and that’s why we choose to take them out,” the minister added.
“And we’ll continue to ramp up at this scale or even a bit higher in relation to planned outages.”
Read: This is why South Africa is in stage 4 load shedding – and why it could get worse
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