The embattled power utility Eskom announced on Tuesday that it will be implementing stage 1 load shedding daily, while stage 2 load shedding will be implemented every night until Friday.
This despite a statement on Sunday which said stage 2 power cuts would be implemented from 5am on Monday until 5am on Tuesday.
Eskom explained that Stage 2 load shedding will continue on a daily basis at 4pm until 5am on Friday.
“Stage 2 load shedding will continue to be implemented on a daily basis at 4pm until 5am on Friday. Stage 1 load shedding will then be implemented daily at 5am to 4pm until Friday. The increase in load shedding is mainly due to the need to preserve emergency generation reserves, the delay in returning four generating units to service while many running units are operating at reduced capacity due to technical faults,” said Sikonathi Mantshantsha, Eskom spokesperson.
Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes.
He said the delay in the return of two generating units at Camden, one unit each at Kendal and Matimba power stations have contributed to the generation capacity shortages.
“We currently have 3 945MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 499MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns. Load shedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns,” Mantshantsha said.
South Africa’s power crisis is getting worse as breakdowns of Eskom’s generation fleet multiply- and the economy is taking a severe strain, as a result, say economists at Absa.
While the economic impact of this is difficult to calculate due to the complexity and overlapping in the market, the bank estimates that 1 percentage point of GDP growth has been wiped from the quarter and that could lead to a cut of 1.3pp to GDP for the year.
Source: Eyewitness News, IOL, Business Tech, The Citizen, image from Twitter: @footnotesza