Power utility Eskom has said South Africa will move from stage 1 to stage 2 loadshedding starting at 2 pm on Wednesday.
Eskom said this is because the demand has significantly increased due to cold weather conditions.
The power utility said Stage 2 is to continue until 10 pm on Wednesday.
Rolling blackouts returned on Friday with Eskom saying it is struggling with capacity.
Savanna News publishes the full statement by Eskom below:
Eskom to implement Stage 2 loadshedding from 14:00 until 22:00 as electricity usage surges in cold weather
Wednesday, 15 July 2020: Eskom advises that it will implement Stage 2 loadshedding from 14:00 as demand has significantly increased due to the cold weather. Demand is currently 2 000MW higher than yesterday, and it is forecast that evening peak demand will be much higher than yesterday and the highest so far this year.
This is putting severe strain on the system, forcing Eskom to burn large amounts of diesel in order to confine loadshedding to Stage 1. This is rapidly depleting our diesel stocks, jeopardising the ability to utilise these resources for the remainder of the week.
Eskom teams are working hard to return to service additional generation units, we urge consumers to assist by reducing the usage of electricity. While we appreciate it is cold, we urge the public to assist by switching off heating appliances, geysers and other appliances in order to alleviate the pressure on the system.
This afternoon a generation unit each at the Medupi and Kusile power stations tripped, contributing to the constrained capacity. This adds to the two delayed generation units at the Tutuka power station and one at Kendal.
Eskom wishes to assure the public that implementing loadshedding is the last resort, in order to protect the national grid.
We will communicate should there be any significant changes to the supply situation.
ENDS
Issued by: Eskom Media Desk
Tel: +27 11 800 3304/3343/3378
Fax: 086 664 7699
Email: [email protected]
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