Eskom announces return of blackouts on Tuesday

This follows after the utility had suspended loadshedding for 18 days during the festive season.

Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena says the return of rolling blackouts was due to a setback of three generating units (2 148MW) not coming back online as anticipated.

"This coupled with a loss of six generating units (3 113MW), and projected increase in electricity demand requires Stage 2 loadshedding to be implemented from 05:00 on Tuesday until 16:00, followed by Stage 3 loadshedding until 05:00 on Wednesday."

Mokwena adds that the unplanned outages are currently at 16 231MW of generating capacity, while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 8 451MW.

"Eskom teams are working tirelessly to ensure that 4 921MW of generating capacity is returned to service before the end of the week. Eskom’s load forecast for the evening peak demand for Tuesday is 23 011MW."