Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will increase to stage 3 for the upcoming week and will continue at this level until further notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom noted due to the need to further replenish emergency reserves in preparation for the week ahead, Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 02:00 on Sunday (4 February) until further notice. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Eskom added that it would closely monitor the power system and communicate should it be required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africans have become accustomed to frequent changes in load shedding over the past few years, but in recent weeks, shifts in stages have been quite dramatic, swinging from no load shedding to permanent stage 2 or stage 3 outages at short notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other times, Eskom has suspended load shedding overnight without even announcing it, only to return to outages again in the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This has been happening when user demand on the grid has hit record lows, and Eskom\u2019s maintenance regime has hit unprecedented highs \u2013 raising eyebrows among some analysts<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Eskom has cleared the air around these haphazard changes, saying that it is simply doing what it must to stabilise the grid and protect it from collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n