Eskom has taken to its official twitter page to announce in an official statement that the stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 14:00 on Friday until 05:00 on Saturday. After which Stage 2 loadshedding will continue until 05:00 on Monday.
This comes after three of its generating units were shut down. The power supplier initially implemented Stage 2 load shedding from 11:00 before the escalation.
“Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 14:00 until 5:00 on Saturday morning,” said Eskom.
Thereafter, the Stage 2 power cuts, which was announced earlier on Friday will continue from Saturday morning until 5:00 on Monday, 8 November.
The power supplier said that Stage 4 power cuts is necessary to stop the use of OCGT generators and preserve the remaining fuel at those power stations, which are currently critically low.
“There is insufficient diesel available in the country to continue generating with the OCGTs at the current rate. It is anticipated that some generating units will return to service later today and overnight allowing a reduction to Stage 2 load shedding for the remainder of the weekend,” said Eskom in a statement.
The power supplier said Stage 2 power cuts was necessary to replenish the emergency generation reserves for the week ahead.
“We remind customers that load shedding is implemented as a last resort to maintain the stability of the power system regardless of the stage of load shedding.”
See statement below: