Eskom announces Stage 4 power cuts
Eskom has announced that load-shedding will increase from Stage 2 to Stage 4 from 13:00 on Saturday. Rotational power cuts will continue until 22:00 tonight.
Load-shedding will also escalate to Stage 4 tomorrow — running from 08:00 until 22:00.
“Demand is higher than anticipated, some units have tripped,” Eskom stated.
The announcement comes after the state-owned power utility extended power cuts this weekend.
Load-shedding was initially scheduled to run from 17:00 to 22:00 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. However, Eskom announced last night that the power cuts would run from the morning.
“This is done to preserve the current diesel stocks and an attempt to contain the amount of load-shedding,” the state-owned power utility said.
Eskom said it expects a ship containing diesel supplies to berth on Monday and offload its cargo through Tuesday.
If the current burn rate persists, diesel would be depleted ahead of the ship offloading.
Update – 13:18
Eskom has expanded upon why it was forced to increase load-shedding to Stage 4.
“The loss of two Hendrina and one Lethabo Power Station units since this morning, together with demand currently 1,200MW higher than anticipated, have forced Eskom to increase load-shedding to Stage 4 from 13:00 this afternoon until 22:00 tonight,” said Eskom in a statement.
“We currently have 3,805MW on planned maintenance, while another 16,050MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.”
Eskom urged South Africans to reduce their use of electricity and switch off all non-essential items.
The loss of three units today has forced Eskom to increase loadshedding to Stage 4 from 13:00
until 22:00 tonight. Stage 4 loadshedding will again be implemented at 08:00 – 22:00 on Sunday pic.twitter.com/lbYxVTgLuj— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) May 21, 2022
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