South Africa: Stage 2 Load Shedding Implemented 'Until Further Notice'

Eskom has implemented Stage 2 load shedding with effect from 5am today.

By Sunday afternoon, unplanned outages at power stations accounted for the unavailability of some 14 641MW of generating capacity with a further 7 850MW offline due to planned maintenance.

"Due to the loss of two generating units over the past 24 hours and the increase of planned maintenance as part of Eskom's plan to improve its generation fleet reliability, Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 5am on Monday until further notice. Eskom will closely monitor the power system and provide an update should any significant changes occur.

"Eskom Power Station General Managers and their teams are working diligently to ensure that additional generating capacity is recovered by bringing units on unplanned outages and planned maintenance back to service as soon as possible.

"A total of 3 830MW of generating capacity is anticipated to return to service by Wednesday," the power utility said.

Eskom urged all consumers to use electricity sparingly, particularly during peak times.

"We would like to thank those who heed the call to use electricity sparingly and efficiently, including switching off geysers and pool pumps from 5pm to pm or during load limiting. This lowers demand and helps alleviate the pressure on the power system, contributing to lower stages of load shedding," the power utility said.

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