/ 24 June 2022

Eskom pushes to stage 4 as protests continue

Eskom Warns Of Tight Electricity Supply Ahead
Eskom announced on Friday morning that it will be upgrading load-shedding to Stage 4 until midnight

Eskom announced on Friday morning that it will raise load-shedding to stage 4 until midnight. The power utility cited an ongoing employee strike and the need to adopt a cautious approach to its energy reserves.

Eskom on Thursday confirmed protest action outside six of its power stations with marchers blocking the roads leading to them.

The protests have coincided with stage 2 rotational power cuts which the state-owned utility says will remain in place until Sunday due to the breakdown of four generation units which contributed to existing capacity constraints. 

“Due to the ongoing unprotected labour action, Eskom is compelled to take precautionary actions to conserve emergency generation reserves,” Eskom said in a statement. “Load-shedding will regretfully be implemented to stage 4 from 11:00 am until midnight. On Saturday and Sunday stage 4 load-shedding will be implemented from 05:00 am until midnight.

“It is necessary to bolster emergency generation reserves to react to unforeseen circumstances, as well as to replenish emergency reserves to prepare for the week ahead. This would help fill the generation deficit while dealing with generating units that may trip amidst the disturbances and compensate for the inability to return generating units timeously to service.”