The last time the country experienced load-shedding at stage six was at the end of November 2023 (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Stage six load-shedding will be implemented “continuously until further notice”, embattled power utility Eskom announced late on Sunday.
“Since Sunday afternoon a generating unit each at Arnot, Hendrina, Lethabo and Majuba, as well as two units at Camden Power Station have suffered breakdowns and taken offline for repairs.
“Further, two generating units at the Lethabo Power Station were shut down due to coal constraints as the New Vaal Mine that is supplying the station has been unable to deliver the expected amount of coal during the past week because of the heavy rains. The three running units are operating at minimum capacity and are at risk of shutdown should the coal supply constraints not be resolved,” Eskom said in a statement.
The utility added that given the high number of breakdowns, there was a possibility of load-shedding stages changing “at short notice”.
“Breakdowns currently amount to 21 243MW of generating capacity while 3 566W of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance.”