Load-shedding upgraded to Stage 4

South African state-owned power utility Eskom has announced that load-shedding will be increased from stage 2 to stage 4 from 09:00 on Wednesday, 9 March 2022.

Stage 4 load-shedding will be implemented until 05:00 on Friday, 11 March, after which it will return to stage 2 until 05:00 on Monday, 14 March.

Eskom said that the need to increase load-shedding is due to further breakdowns at its power generating stations overnight.

“Overnight, a unit each at Kendal, Duvha, Camden and Kusile power stations tripped,” the power utility said in a statement.

“Since then, we have returned four units to service. However, these units still need to ramp up to full output, which necessitates a high usage of emergency generation reserves today.”

Eskom added that with this being its fourth consecutive day of heavy diesel usage, its emergency reserves are being depleted faster than it can replenish them.

The power utility implemented stage 2 load-shedding on Monday, 7 March 2022.

It initially planned to continue load-shedding until 05:00 on Wednesday. However, Eskom said a series of breakdowns earlier in the week forced it to extend load-shedding until 05:00 on Saturday.

Main Image: SA People