Load shedding expected countrywide

SOUTH AFRICANS should brace themselves for another load shedding onslaught this week as Eskom experiences faults at its R135 billion Medupi power station.

Load shedding had reached stage two yesterday afternoon affecting a number of areas and thousands of households.

The blackout happened a few days after president Cyril Ramaphosa announced drastic plans to unbundle the utility during his State Of the Nation address.

Eskom said blackouts were expected this week.

“With the depletion of our water and diesel resources, there is a great likelihood that we’ll start the new work week from a weak operational position, meaning that there is a high probability of load shedding from tomorrow (today) as well,” said Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe.

“We have lost some of our big generators at Medupi power station and some of our smaller ones.

“We are likely to continue to have load shedding for tomorrow and parts of the coming week as well. However, we will keep consumers updated,” he added.

Eskom said stage two called for 2 000MW to be rotationally load shed nationally at a given period. Load shedding was conducted rotationally as a measure of last resort to protect the power system from a total collapse or blackout.