Eskom has announced that stage 2 load shedding will be extended until 05h00 on Thursday (14 October) to replenish emergency generation reserves.
The power cuts are also necessary to address other additional risks in the generation fleet, it said in a statement on Friday evening.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha confirmed that this stage 2 load shedding will be continuous until Thursday and would not only run between 21h00 – 05h00 as initially scheduled.
“During this time, Eskom will be working hard to return a number of generating units to service, and we urge the public to continue using electricity sparingly. Total breakdowns amount to 14,760MW, while planned maintenance is 5,277MW of capacity.
“While still recovering four sites at Tutka, which had experienced conveyor belt failures, the fleet suffered a cluster of boiler tube leaks within a short period of time,” Eskom said.
Eskom said that emergency reserves had been further depleted by breakdowns at the Kusile, Komati and Hendrina power stations.
“Emergency reserves have been further depleted today due to breakdowns of a generating unit each at Kusile, Komati and Hendrina power stations. The return of a generating unit at Majuba power station today provided some relief, however, this was insufficient to curb the extensive use of emergency reserves.”
The power utility said it would communicate with the public should there be any significant changes to the power system.
Eskom also announced on Thursday morning that the power system was under severe pressure due to a number of generating-unit breakdowns, warning of load shedding. It had not implemented load shedding since 22 July
For those living in the major metros, the load shedding schedules are available here:
- City of Johannesburg
- City of Ekurhuleni
- City of Tshwane
- City of Cape Town (PDF)
- Nelson Mandela Bay
- eThekwini
- Manguang
- Buffalo City
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.
