No danger of power grid collapsing, assures Eskom
Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer says while it might seem as if the electricity system is in danger of collapsing, it's not the case.
"When there is insufficient generation capacity available, as it is currently the case, the system operator is compelled to reduce the demand on the power system to match the available generation capacity.
"Now by load shedding preemptively, we are ensuring that the power system remains in balance and the heartbeat of the system remains stable and predictable."
An unprotected wage strike by workers has put severe strain on operations at Eskom's power plants.
The walkout prompted the power utility to this week implement stage 6 load shedding for only the second time.
READ: Eskom, unions return to negotiating table on Friday
Eskom says routine maintenance has been impacted while they haven't been able to return to service units that have broken down.
Oberholzer says operations have still not fully recovered.
"Hampering efforts to return generators to serive and this will necessitate the implementation of stage 6 load shedding again today from 4pm to 10pm. Then after, stage 4 will be implemented over the weekend from 7 o'clock until midnight with stage being implemented from midnight until 7am."
CEO Andre de Ruyter says negotiations between Eskom and trade unions are continuing on Friday.
"The key issue really is to return to work in order to allow us to lift load shedding. There's abuse three stages of load shedding attributable to the unlawful industrial action. So that is the major factor that is putting us in the position we are in now."
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