Eskom might escalate power cuts to stage four this week, the power utility said on Monday during a media briefing to give the electricity status update.
The state-owned enterprise said it would implement stage three loadshedding today, from 5pm to 10pm, noting that this could be escalated if additional units’ breakdowns occurred during the day.
“The current outlook is that we need to implement stage three loadshedding tonight, although it may increase, and I think it is important to make this point that it may increase if there are additional breakdowns,” said Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer, noting that more generation capacity was lost at the weekend.
The power utility had lost units at its Arnot, Majuba, Hendrina and Kusile power stations, and two units at Lethabo since Friday night. The units at Majuba and Hendrina were returned to service by Sunday, but by then the utility had lost a further unit at Majuba, along with units at Tutuka and Camden.
On Friday, it said capacity had recovered to a point that changed evening loadshedding from stage two to stage one. But at short notice on Saturday, Eskom moved back to stage two power cuts.
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said the full load losses across the generation fleet were hampering the power utility and making it hard for the entity to meet high demand during peak hours.
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