Johannesburg – Power utility Eskom today announced that stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm until 5am tomorrow.
Eskom said that Stage 3 load shedding would follow from 5am until 4pm on Monday.
This easing fo the power reductions followed a week where South Africans were subjected to Stages 5 and 6, which saw areas without electricity for between four and 10 hours a day.
This drastic reduction electricity supply led to resident in some areas in Gauteng and Mpumalanga taking to the streets in protest and demanding electricity.
On Friday, residents of Buccleuch, Johannesburg, marched with placards saying they had not had electricity since last Sunday. Some residents were seen dumping rotten food outside the utility’s head office in Sunninghill.
Political analyst Professor Dirk Kotze warned that electricity demonstrations in general would increase.
Eskom said it will implement stage 5 load shedding on Tuesday from 4pm until 5am the next morning.
The power utility said this pattern would be repeated daily until further notice.
"Eskom will publish another update as soon as any significant changes occur. Breakdowns are currently at 16 486MW of generating capacity, while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 3 817 MW," said the utility in a statement.
Eskom said in the last 24 hours, a generation unit at Duvha Power Station was taken out of service due to a breakdown. Furthermore, the delay in returning units to service at Arnot, Camden, Kendal, Tutuka and two generating units at Hendrina power stations continues to add to the capacity constraints.
"The team is working tirelessly to ensure that generating units are returned to service as soon as possible. We thank those South Africans who heed the call to use electricity sparingly and efficiently, including switching off geysers from 5pm. to 9pm, in helping to alleviate the pressure on the power system and avoid higher stages of load shedding."
The Star