Eskom warns of ‘erratic’ changes to load shedding stages amid diesel shortage
As South Africans contend with stage 4 load shedding, which is expected to last into the weekend, Eskom says more unpredictable changes to the planned power cuts can be expected.
The struggling power utility on Friday said it would maintain the implementation of stage 4 load shedding until further notice.
Eskom announced it would ramp up the planned outages to stage 4 from just after 5am on Friday, owing to a high level of breakdowns and depleted generation reserves.
READ: Eskom ramps up load shedding to stage 4 on Friday
“Since Friday morning, a generating unit each at Kendal and Kriel power stations was taken offline for repairs. Delays in returning to service a unit each at Arnot, Grootvlei, Hendrina, and Tutuka power stations have contributed to the capacity constraints. A generating unit each at Camden, Kriel, Tutuka and two units at Majuba power stations were returned to service,’ said the utility’s spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha.
Eskom warned South Africans to brace themselves for more possible changes to the electricity supply.
“Changes in the stages of load shedding will be more erratic due to the absence of the buffer that is normally provided by the diesel generation capacity between generating unit breakdowns,” Mantshantsha added.
